Middle Grounds
by E350
Summary: The sequel to End Times. Times have changed, and not for the better. With Timmy missing and the Government determined to irredicate the fairies, Timmy's allies, old and new, must unite in the face of a new threat. Timmy/Dani. Rated for character death.
1. Prologue

It's up! This is the sequel to End Times, which you should probably read if you want to get this. I have elected to place it here, in the FOP section, despite planned crossovers, due to the fact that Timmy is the hero of this series of fanfics, and much of it if firmly rooted in the Fairly OddParents world.

Anyone who reviewed the last chapter of End Times, don't worry, I'll send you your replies by PM. I hope you enjoy this, regardless, as I'm very excited about it.

**

* * *

Middle Grounds**

**Prologue**

_GiW Forward Base 085, Nevada._

The Guys in White prided themselves in being the only anti-ghost agency employed by the United States Government. With this in mind, it was not in a good position.

The President, Henry Edward Fulton, had diverted most of it's funding into the Federal Anti-Irregular Response (F.A.I.R.), the replacement to the suspended M.E.R.F. Embittered, the GiW had put most all of it's remaining recourses into capturing a ghost and looking useful to the government.

The two guards who stood at a post in the desert complex known as Forward Base 085 looked almost anachronistic, with their white steel helmets and uniform looking like something out of the 1950s. They were, however, the best the GiW had, short of its Operatives.

Right now, they were waiting on the two Operatives assigned to move their recent capture from here to the New Mexico Facility.

A white sedan, which had been commissioned the previous year to make the GiW a little more discreet (as apposed to using futuristic fighter planes), pulled up to the gate, and the driver rolled down the window.

"GiW, I'm here to pick up the ghost shrimp."

"I need your ID," a guard said, dryly.

"Operative…N, and this is my partner, J," the driver replied.

"'Kay, go ahead," nodded the guard.

The car moved passed the gate and into the complex. In the driver's seat, Norm the Genie rolled his eyes.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day," he grinned, "Someone stupider then Jarhead."

"Keep your eyes on the road, Norm," Jazz Fenton replied, "We're looking for Complex Block B."

"Might it be the one with the giant sign labelled 'Complex Block B'?" mused Norm, sarcasm dripping through his voice as he pointed to a grey block building marked _Block B._

"Very ambiguous," chuckled Jazz, stopping at the door. The GiW were playing right into their hands today.

They entered the building, flashed (fake) identification and made their way to the prison blocks. As they did so, Jazz reflected on the past twenty-two months.

Almost immediately after Fulton had made his speech at the Capital, the government had fallen on the fairies and their godchildren like a plague of locusts. Those they grabbed disappeared of the radar. Those they didn't made for the hills with their families. Norm had found that suspicious – how did the government know who they had to find?

To hunt them down, Fulton had authorised F.A.I.R. under Arlene Doombringer's command. A force of Black Ops, F.A.I.R. had no operational boundaries; they were permitted to do anything. They were far, far worse then M.E.R.F. had ever been.

Soon, Jazz and Norm arrived in the cell block, where two more guards were restraining their captive ghost.

"Here it is," one said simply.

"We'll take him from here," nodded Jazz.

The ghost was escorted back to the sedan, which made it out of the complex unopposed. For a few miles, nothing was said, the ghost looking anxiously out the back of the car.

Then Norm spoke.

"OK, so we have the Goth, the babysitter, the smart bald guy and Cheesehead. That brings us to exactly five people, including Denny back here…"

"_Danny,_" corrected Danny Fenton, changing from his ghost to his human form.

"Riight," nodded Norm, "Point is we still have to find…what…half-a-dozen other people? In two months?"

"Must you always be so negative?" sighed Jazz.

"It's not negativity when it's true," replied Norm, "Maybe the Phantom Menace back there might know where to find someone."

"I know Tucker was in Chicago a month ago, I've got his number," mused Danny, "Obviously you found Sam and Vicky after I was captured, and I think Chester and Tootie are at the Cave. Atkinson's in the German Army now, but he says he'll be able to make it, so pretty much the only people we can't easily find are the Turner's 'cause they never left Dimmsdale."

"Oh no, please don't tell me we have to go there," lamented Norm.

"We'll head there last," decided Jazz, "I mean, we all knew we had to go there eventually…"

A silence hung over the car as it drove west, towards the Rocky Mountains and the heart of F.A.I.R.'s net.


	2. Chapter 1: Dimmsdale

Let us get the wheels of plot moving!

But first, review replies;

**unknown20troper:** I'm glad you like it, you'll be seeing more of them in the future.

**OddAuthor:** Thanks, I always find Norm hard to write.

**TweenisodeOrange:** Don't worry, it's not in the Rockies, it's over them, specifically in...  
**

* * *

Chapter One: Dimmsdale**

The sounds of tinkering and hammering finally ceased in the lab, and Jimmy Neutron looked up at his handiwork.

The hovercraft had been upgraded. It now had a cloaking mechanism and a good number of secondary gadgets ranging from the X-Ray Cameras to the Rear-View Mirror. Without a doubt, however, the greatest achievement was the Multi-Dimensional Drive.

The MDD was far, far improved from old devices such as the Porta-Portal. It could not only travel to places Jimmy knew of, but ones he didn't either. It hadn't been easy, either – it had taken many months of trial and error, as this time there was no room for any inconvenience.

He had also been watching events in Dimmsdale over the months, and had planned to synchronize his arrival with that of Timmy's other allies. If Timmy was alive – and Jimmy knew this for a fact, as he'd been watching Jazz and Norm's progress – he'd turn up when they did. Obviously, this meant something big, and Jimmy wanted to make it as easy as possible for his friend when he returned.

He intended to cause F.A.I.R. a great deal of trouble.

Before long, Jimmy had called his friends, Carl Wheezer and Sheen Estevez, to his laboratory, in anticipation of leaving for Dimmsdale.

"I assume you've all found excuses with your parents?" he asked.

"Yep," nodded Sheen, "Your parents tell our parents what they always do when we go off on wacky adventures."

"Great," Jimmy nodded, absently, "Did you get everything?"

"Yep," said Carl, holding up a very large ruffle bag, "I got bandages, a spare inhaler, stitches, stethoscope, heart monitor, the jaws of life…"

"Uh…maybe we should just take the bandages and the inhaler," mused Jimmy.

They trio boarded the Hovercraft, and Jimmy began to calibrate the co-ordinates to Dimmsdale.

"Can I push the button?" asked Sheen.

Jimmy sighed.

"Yes, you can push the button," he nodded.

He finished typing the co-ordinates, and a large, red button emerged from the control panel. Sheen stood up, made a heroic stance, and held his finger over the button.

"Let us enter the gates of peril," he boomed.

Carl looked nervous.

"Uh…maybe I can just st…"

Too late. Sheen slammed his hand on the button. The Hovercraft began to spin uncontrollably until it vanished in a flash of green light.

* * *

Dimmsdale had changed.

The town had quickly polarized in the days after the New York Crisis. It had become split between the pro-F.A. led by the Mayor and Doug Dimmadome, and the pro-Timmys led by Geraldine Waxelplax and Francis Abrahams.

Many who had been involved in the Crisis left Dimmsdale, either through disgust at the Mayor or through the town bringing bad memories. An embittered Richard Tang had left the country entirely.

The Mayor had invited F.A.I.R. to use Dimmsdale as their headquarters, and now the streets were lined with their vehicles. They had almost become a second police force – and they often took liberties in justice.

Sanjay Bradley had changed as well. He had since gotten over Elmer loss and Timmy's perceived loss after a year long melancholy, but he still wasn't quite his old self. He was one of the more vocal supporters of Timmy, which had gained him a lot of trouble for F.A.I.R. and the students who supported them.

Jimmy had only a vague recollection of what Sanjay was like (wasn't he the kid who claimed to be Yogi Bear?), but even he was taken aback by the level of abuse the poor kid was taking when he turned up on the boy's doorstep.

"Gas Planet, what happened to you?" he had demanded.

Sanjay had more bruises on his face then Jimmy believed he'd have in his whole life. A large cut, which thankfully appeared to be healing, ran across his cheek.

It got worse, of course. After Jimmy had established that no, he wasn't Timmy, but yes, Timmy was alive, Sanjay had begun merrily showing the trio all of his injuries and how he had gotten them. He had just gotten to a particularly nasty one on his abdomen when Sheen stopped him.

"OK, we get it, they're bad, just stop showing us scars!" he demanded.

Sanjay nodded.

"So, what brings you here?" he asked.

"We're trying to make things easier for Timmy when he gets back," replied Jimmy, "You wanna help?"

Sanjay's eyes brightened.

"Of course I would!" he beamed.

"Good," nodded Jimmy, "You can come back with us to the lab when we make our plan. You know anyone else who can help?"

"Maybe Francis, but he still scares me," replied Sanjay, "Chad'll help, he's gotten off even worse then I have. That leaves Veronica…"

There was a short silence.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this pause?" asked Sheen.

"Because pauses mean something bad is about to happen?" shuddered Carl.

"Veronica isn't bad, she's just…distant, lately," shrugged Sanjay.

Jimmy nodded.

"We won't bother then," he decided, "So there's no-one else who can help us?"

"Well, there's Faewatch," mused Sanjay, "It's an underground radio station that tells us what F.A.I.R. is doing…"

"…and they called it Faewatch," deadpanned Sheen.

"…but we don't know who runs it," finished Sanjay.

"Right," nodded Jimmy, "We'll pick up Chad and Francis, head back to my lab and make a plan."

"Where is your lab, anyway?" asked Sanjay.

"Oh, you'll see," grinned Jimmy.

* * *

Veronica Star had been distant ever since the New York Crisis, to the point that she hardly spoke even to her parents. Naturally, they were getting a bit concerned.

She would sit in her room for hours on end, with the door locked. Many times, her father had suggested the battering ram, but had been voted down by the physiatrist they had hired.

"Let her be," he had said, "She'll get over it."

So they had left her in her room. It might have been better that they did so, for they never saw that their daughter was becoming something that they were against.

The Stars, you see, were adamantly against Timmy's side. They believed that Timmy Turner had been the cause of Trixie Tang's death and Veronica's perceived mental breakdown, and helped F.A.I.R. whenever possible.

Veronica had opened a secret hideout for fairies in her cupboard. She had helped Faewatch set themselves up in an abandoned radio station. She even knew who the mind behind Faewatch was. She kept correspondence with the resistance network known as the Cave.

In short, Veronica Star was rebelling, and she wouldn't have it any other way.


	3. Chapter 2: The Purple Dossier

I hate firefox, I really do. You write for ten minutes on review replies, and then you press ONE BUTTON...anyway, forgive any short reviews. I'm just tired and demoralised right now.

Anyway, story-related note - the prologue took place in New Mexico, not Nevada. It makes more geogrpahical sense. Now, get ready for an action-packed chapter of people talking in an office!

Review Replies;

**unknown20troper:** Veronica helped with Faewatch, but she didn't create it. Who did...let's just see you will NOT see it coming. :D

**OddAuthor:** Thanks for the review!

**TweenisodeOrange:** Thank you very much!

**Solaris Knight 30:** Apologies for killing Trixie, I didn't realise how offhand it was until later. I'll read COR tomorrow. :D

**soulful100:** Thanks for the well-thought out review! As per the Kindness, I imagine that it isn't coming because it doesn't like what the humans are doing. I'm glad you like my dark look on humanity. Similarity to the ending of Kingdom Hearts was purely unintentional - I never finished the game. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it. :)

**

* * *

Chapter Two: The Purple Dossier**

To look upon the Earth these days was to stare into madness.

For the first six months after the New York Crisis, a phenomenon known as 'Wish Madness' occurred. Children, now free of rules, wished like crazy, and while it seemed that the ability to alter the universe seemed to have gone with Da Rules, the ability to cause havoc remained.

A wish to end the drought in Australia resulted in the creation of an inland sea – drowning millions, swamping thousands of square miles and ruining the agricultural economy, plunging the country into depression.

A wish for food in Central Africa caused the growth of millions of fruit and vegetable plants – indiscriminate on where they rose, they levelled the entire area, covering most of the land from the Congo to Sudan, of all civilization.

A wish for an end to war in Afghanistan caused massive earthquakes that levelled most of the infrastructure – without, war could not be waged, but millions were badly affected.

These were merely the _good-spirited_ wishes.

In short, over the near two years since the New York Crisis, 1.5 billion had died – more the population of China in numbers. Governments, in panic, had ordered all godchildren rounded up and placed under military eye. It was standard practice, but the way it was executed was cruel at best and barbaric at worst.

Now, in the United States in particular, the final purge was about to begin.

* * *

"Gentlemen, ma'am, this is what I call the Purple Dossier."

There were four people in the Oval Office on this fine May morning, but their moods did not reflect the weather outside.

President Henry Edward Fulton, who had gained the nickname 'Bloody Henry' from his more adamant foes, was sitting at the President's desk, looking at the files he had just be handed. Watching from the corner, F.A.I.R. Chairwoman Arlene Doombringer was looking in mild disinterest, having help to put the file together. Sitting across from the President was the Head of the CIA, and standing nearby was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"What does it have?" asked the President, looking warily to the Head of the CIA.

"It has files on the main threats to our administration on the magic front," replied the Head of the CIA, "Ms. Doombringer can probably explain."

Doombringer nodded, opening the file to the first page.

"Public Enemy Number One," she began, "Timothy Tiberius Turner, assuming he's still alive."

"That's pretty standard," sighed the President, rolling his eyes, "Who else? You mentioned a top four?"

"Sharing number two, we have Cosmo and Wanda Fairywinkle, who were Turner's godparents," continued Doombringer, "We have no leads to their location, but we suspect somewhere on the West Coast."

She turned the page again.

"The Cave," she began, "Primary resistance force centred on the Rockies and the Western Seaboard. It's hard to pinpoint a leader here, but it seems to point to Molly Keith."

"And we haven't dropped a smart bomb on them because…" began the President, in an irritated tone.

"We can't," shrugged the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "We don't know where they are."

"The Cave runs as a guerrilla force," added Doombringer, "Like the French Marquis."

"Perfect, I might be the first President ever to have a Marquis against him," deadpanned Fulton, "Any luck on capturing one of them?"

"No sir," replied the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "They're in and out before F.A.I.R. can respond. If we could put the Marines on this…"

"Can it," snapped Doombringer, "Now, next page."

She turned the page. The President raised an eyebrow.

"Arlene, can you please tell how we came to the position that a thirteen year old girl is one of America's most wanted?" he asked, "I mean, Turner and Company have witnesses, but I've never even heard of…"

"Sarah Cummings," explained Doombringer, "De-facto Mayor of Jensenberg."

"I don't like the sound of that," groaned the President.

"She had a history of being a recluse before the New York Crisis," continued Doombringer, "A direct result of her father's death in a traffic accident. She got a fairy at eleven, the crisis happened the same year, and all communications from Jensenberg stopped."

"I don't even wanna _know_ what happened to it," sighed the President, "Why don't we just bomb the place and be done with it."

"Impossible, sir," replied the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "Every plane we've sent over there has vanished. It's an inland Bermuda Triangle."

The President nodded.

"So that's it," he said, "Turner, the Cosmas, Keith and Cummings are the primary magic threats. I want the majority of F.A.I.R.'s resources to focus on Turner and the Cave – we'll save Cummings for later. Dismissed."

The room was emptied, leaving only the President. Sighing, he picked up a phone.

"How's Project Oppenheimer going?" he asked.

"_Very good, sir, should be ready in two months."_

"Very good…very good."

* * *

Danny had, much to his protest, been left in Colorado, under the care of a very reluctant ally-of-convenience. Jazz and Norm now drove south towards an isolated township called Carnot, Wyoming, near the headquarters of the Cave. Once they had them on their side, everyone – literally, everyone – would head to Dimmsdale, F.A.I.R. or no F.A.I.R.

One problem. Their route took them right through Jensenberg.


	4. Chapter 3: Nothing Ever Goes Right

Coming in at six pages, this is the longest chapter in this story thus far. It's short compared to other works, but I'm proud of it, that's the main thing.

In this chapter, the plot thickens, we meet Sarah Cummings (sort of) and a few other things happen thanks to cause and effect. But first, review replies;

**OddAuthor:** Thanks for reviewing! President Fulton is probably my least favourite OC, to be honest, as far as likability goes. (He's interesting to write, though).

**unknown20troper:** Thanks! As you can see, I'm trying to deconstruct Da Rules, as a lot of people paint them as harsh or unneeded. This is my answer to that.

**soulful100:** Thanks, I wanted to put Molly in the last one, but fate and plot stood in the way.

**TweensiodeOrange:** Well, I'd make a pretty bad cartographer, then. That last comment reminded me of the Who, incidentally. (Whooooo are you? XD) Thanks for reviewing!  
**

* * *

Chapter Three: Nothing Ever Goes Right**

Jazz had felt many times in the past near-two years that she was being punished for something.

She had been stopped, just over the state border, by a solitary state trooper in front of a gate, who was explaining that the direct route to Carnot – all others took several days over bad roads and terrain – was closed.

"Sorry, ma'am," the trooper said, shrugging, "Magic incident, y'know. The whole area's codenamed 'Rabbit Hole', you do not wanna be in there."

"You don't understand," pleaded Jazz, "I _need_ to get to Carnot – we're on a really tight schedule…"

"Can't do anything about it, I'm afraid," replied the trooper, "You can write a letter to the Governor about it, and he could petition the President and…"

"That would take ages!" snapped Jazz, exasperated.

"Let me try," said Norm, looking up from a magazine (it seemed to have a female genie on the cover), "Hey, Sergeant Fail, over here."

The trooper walked over to Norm's window.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Look, you see that fork _just_ over the gate, the one that goes left?" asked Norm.

"Yeah," nodded the trooper.

"Well, genius, if you had waited for her to say, we were going to go _that_ way, _away _from the centre of creepiness and doom."

"Oh, OK," nodded the trooper, "I'll raise the gate then and let you on your way."

He walked away. Norm gave a grin as he rolled down his window.

"He is _so_ stupid," he whispered to Jazz.

The trooper hummed a tune as he rolled up the gate. Almost as soon as he was finished, he heard a very loud screeching noise. Turning on his heel, he gazed in shock as Jazz's car sped past the gate…and went right.

He stood, jaw dropped, as the dust dissipated.

"I…am so fired," he said at last.

* * *

The Dimmsdale Headquarters of F.A.I.R. was the largest and most complex of all F.A.I.R. HQ's, with the possible exception of the Washington HQ. The Commander of F.A.I.R. in this sector was currently looking over a screen and frowning.

Over the past two days, Sanjay Bradley had become even more vigorous in his support of Timmy Turner. Oddly enough, when he sent his 'paid youths' to 'discipline' him, he seemed to vanish into the shadows, almost as if he'd developed a sort of teleporter.

He shook his head. That was ridiculous.

"Dr. Bender!"

Dr. Bender turned away from the monitor as a F.A.I.R. officer whose name he neither knew nor cared for stepped into the monitoring room.

"We sent a team to dismantle Faewatch, as ordered," he began, "Sadly, we got the wrong place again."

"Drat it!" snapped Bender, "That's the third time this week!"

He pulled out a toothbrush and ran his finger over the brush. The feeling usually calmed him down.

"We also believe that Sanjay Bradley may have acquired magical help," continued the officer.

"Well then bring him in you nincompoops!" snapped Bender.

"We've tried," deadpanned the officer.

Dr. Bender nodded.

"I see," he said, "In that case, it's time to bring out the big guns. Allow access to the XM33 Battle Suit."

"Yes sir – who will command?"

"Wendell," replied Dr. Bender, "He needs the experience."

* * *

The US Marine Force Recon Team known as Sabre Team had been on base for months. The five man team was led by Lieutenant Max Bishop, who was getting very bored of being stuck here.

He wanted to see some action, he thought to himself as he cleaned his rifle. Evidently, the brass was too busy chasing fairies around to give him one.

"Lieutenant Bishop?"

Bishop stood up as a messenger walked in the door.

"Is there a message, Private? Please let it be action…"

"Assignment from the CIA," he stated, simply, "We want your men ready to move out in twenty-four hours – we think we've found the Cave Headquarters."

Bishop grinned.

* * *

The more Jazz drove down the road, the more worried she got.

"Are you getting that feeling?" she asked.

"Yep," nodded Norm, "Turn the air-con down, it's freezing in here!"

"Not _that_ feeling," snapped Jazz, "Another feeling…it's sort of a foreboding feeling…"

"Let me think," sighed Norm, rolling his eyes, "Mmm…nope! No feeling."

Jazz shook her head and kept driving.

She kept glancing around, however, the feeling getting worse as she drove. Norm did not seem like he was feeling it, as he was bored and reading his magazine, but she could not help but feel everything was…off.

The sky, the trees, the grass and the road all seemed artificial, and brighter then normal. The clouds seemed fluffier. Everything looked nice – and somehow, this was very, very unsettling. Perhaps, mind you, it was a trick of the light.

Ten minutes of driving later, Jazz was one hundred percent sure it wasn't. She pulled over to take a closer look.

Norm looked up.

"Why are we stopping?" he demanded.

"There's something seriously wrong here," replied Jazz, stepping out of the car.

She looked around. The sky was a brilliant blue, dotted with white clouds. The trees and grass were green, the road was black, and the tree trunks were green. It should have been normal – but the colours seemed too bright, too friendly and too cartoonish.

Norm finally took notice of this.

"Did you possibly miss a sign saying 'Hundred Acre Wood?'" he asked, sarcastically.

"I think we should probably get out of here," mused Jazz.

"Sure, your call," nodded Norm, "Let's go around! It'll only take – what – two weeks to make a three day trip, no one cares…"

"Fine, we'll keep going," nodded Jazz, "Maybe it'll be gone by the time we get to Jensenberg."

* * *

Jazz really, really regretted not going around now.

Jensenberg was a ghost town, which was far from the creepiest thing about it. If the forest had looked cartoonish, this place just looked plainly plastic. This was literal – the houses seemed to be constructed from plastic rather then brick.

"Yep, defiantly some bad wishing here," nodded Norm, "I can smell it."

"You can smell magic?" mused Jazz.

"No, but I can smell plastic," replied Norm, "Lots and lots of plastic."

"Let's get out," decided Jazz, "We could try to find out what's going on. Let's see if we can find the godchild behind this…"

"Uh, very bad idea," snapped Norm, "This place isn't monitored by the feds – unrestricted magic, sister. Now, just put your foot on the gas and…"

Jazz stopped the car.

"I hate you so much right now," deadpanned Norm.

The duo got out of the car and began to walk down the road. It certainly didn't look right – it was wooden, lined by wooden cars. Felt trees were scattered about the place over felt grass. Nobody was around.

"Everything here's an oversized toy," mused Jazz.

"That brings back memories," muttered Norm.

"Why?"

"Let's just say Lamps and Day-care Centres are _bad combinations_."

Eventually they reached a large castle situated in the centre of town. It appeared to be constructed from LEGO bricks, and was much, much larger then the rest of the town's buildings.

"Of course," smirked Norm, "Overlord gets a giant castle. That's not cliché at all."

"I'll go inside," said Jazz, "Maybe I can talk to her."

"Alright," called Norm as she walked inside, "If you're not back in five minutes, I'll avenge your death."

Jazz rolled her eyes, but grinned slightly as she did.

The door was opened quite easily, even though it was probably as tell as the Fenton Works. Slowly entering the giant, candle-lit entrance hall (wincing as the door slammed behind her) Jazz called out.

"Hello?" she yelled, "My name's Jazz Fenton! I'm here to help you!"

Her eyes fell on a giant portrait. It displayed three people.

On the left was a tall, red haired, beared man with a large grin on his face. He had a large fedora, a police uniform and a badge that indicated his position as Sheriff of Jensenberg. He had his arm over a woman on the right, a pretty young lady with a green dress and black hair in a ponytail. The man was ruffling the hair of a little girl, perhaps seven or eight years old, who had inherited her mother's black hair (also in a ponytail) and wore a red jumper and jeans.

It all seemed so peaceful. Jazz looked to the left of it, seeing a small photo of the woman and child dressed in black, next to a coffin inscribed 'Here Lies Roland Cummings – R.I.P.'. The photo was dated to six years prior.

Next to that again was an even smaller newspaper cutting, with a small inscription – "SHERIFF DEAD AT THIRTY-FIVE – LEAVES BEHIND WIFE LILITH AND DAUGHTER SARAH."

Sarah Cummings, Jazz thought. Perhaps she was the godchild who had transformed this town.

"Who are you?"

A voice echoed through the hall. Jazz jumped.

"Uh…Jazz Fenton, I'm looking for Sarah Cummings. Do you know where I can find her?"

"Sarah doesn't want visitors."

The voice was female, and sounded like the speaker was in her mid to late thirties.

"Are you Lilith Cummings?" she asked.

"Sarah doesn't want visitors," the voice repeated.

Jazz tried to move away, but found her feet wouldn't obey her orders. Looking down, she found why – a giant metal brace had been pulled over her feet, leaving her legs stuck.

"I will take care of you," the voice continued.

"Look, I'll just leave, it's cool," shuddered Jazz, her nerve leaving her.

"I will take care of you," the voice repeated, "You will be taken to Sarah."

"Wait, Lilith, you don't understand," called Jazz, "I can help Sarah, I just need to talk to her…without being tied up or anything."

"I will take care of you. You will be taken to Sarah."

Jazz heard footsteps approaching her in the dark.

"No, really, I-I can take myself," she stammered.

"I will take care of you. You will be taken to Sarah."

The footsteps were getting closer and closer.

"No, please, just let me go, I can…"

"I will take care of you. You will be taken to Sarah."

Jazz lost her nerve.

"_NORM!_"

* * *

Norm had just prepared himself a sandwich and was about to bite into it.

"_NORM!"_

Norm glanced to the castle.

Then he glanced at his lunch.

He glanced between them a few times.

"Aw, smoof," he grumbled at last, "Why did I have to develop a conscience now?"

He dropped the sandwich and ran for the castle door.


	5. Chapter 4: Among The Extraordinary

Another update today. It's so soon because you guys are awesome and because it's a public holiday!

Review replies;

**unknown20troper:** I'm really glad you like my potrayal of Norm, I always find him the hardest to do. You can't just make him say smoof all the time, can you? :D

**Solaris Knight 30:** I has a review for you! Also, thanks for reading.

**OddAuthor: **I was hoping I could make Jensenberg nightmare fuel. Glad to see it seems to have worked. Thanks for reading!

**

* * *

Chapter Four: The Ordinary Among The Extraordinary**

The helicopter flew across the trees in the direction of Carnot, the men inside getting ready to drop.

"Alright, guys," Bishop stated, "Operational rules – hold your fire until my say-so. Anyone of you who shoots an unarmed civvie, I will not hesitate to have you pulled from the mission and court-marshalled immediately. We are on intel gathering only – we wait for the cavalry before we attack."

"We're coming up on the DZ," the pilot called.

"Understood, equipment check!"

There was the sound of clicking and loading as the group checked their weapons and other equipment. Bishop pulled out a radio.

"Intelligence Log One, Sabre Team, USMC liaison to F.A.I.R." he began, "Identification for government officials is to be provided for this op. Name, rank and serial number will be recorded."

Sabre Team nodded.

"Lieutenant Max Bishop, 056641, Team Leader," Bishop stated, before handing over to the man next to him.

"Sergeant Gregorio Rourke, 900876, Designated Grenadier."

"Sergeant James Baker, 887620, Designated Corpsman."

"Sergeant Mark Gavin, 082368, Designated Marksman."

"Sergeant Ted Morrissey, 294569, Designated Rifleman."

The radio was handed back to Bishop.

"All right, guys – this radio will be very important, we'll be reporting straight to the Pentagon and Doctor Bender," he explained, "Don't screw up."

"Hey, Max," mused Morrissey, "D'you ever think that we might be on the wrong side here?"

"The Pentagon signs my pay-check," shrugged Bishop, as the helicopter touched down, "Now let's move out!"

* * *

"OK, let's go over this," Jimmy mused, looking over the map of Dimmsdale spread out over the grass of his backyard.

He had gathered a nice little resistance in his backyard, if he did say so himself. Carl and Sheen were there, of course, as was Sanjay, but he had also gathered up Chad Grey and Francis Abrahams. Cindy and Libby had turned up as well, so that helped bringing their resistance up to…eight.

Eight against all of F.A.I.R., plus any military response they could muster. They'd need to be very sneaky in this.

He had spent the last ten minutes explaining the differences in the universal laws to Sanjay, Chad and Francis (yes – everything is supposed to look so bulgy in comparison to your world, no – you are not dreaming) and was now ready to make a plan.

"The F.A.I.R. headquarters is here," he began, pointing to the building on the map, "Over here is the Mayor's office. The Mayor inspects the F.A.I.R. HQ every day at one pm. That's where we start."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Carl, confused.

"We're gonna give the Mayor a warning," replied Jimmy, "Nothing harsh, just let him know we're out and about. We'll also tell him that we're operating out of that mall at Dimmsdale Flatts."

"But we're not," reminded Sanjay.

"Exactly," grinned Jimmy, "The Mayor will tell F.A.I.R., and they'll send all of their recourses to sweep Dimmsdale Flatts…"

"…leaving less to guard Dimmsdale itself," finished Chad, "Nice."

"One problem, Nerdtron," snapped Cindy, "How exactly do we get to the Mayor? Wouldn't he have a guard or something?"

"He would," replied Jimmy, "But he's too stingy to pay for them. He also takes a shortcut through several back alleys to avoid paying for more petrol, and that's where we get 'em. Francis, you're gonna help me do that. I'm gonna need your help too, Libby – I need the radio."

"What can we do?" asked Sanjay.

"Sanjay, I want you to make sure no-one tries to find the Mayor," replied Jimmy, "Speak out against F.A.I.R. again at school – that'll get their attention."

"Yes sir!" saluted Sanjay.

"Please don't do that," deadpanned Cindy.

"Alright, gang, we do it tomorrow – good luck," finished Jimmy.

Unfortunately, he did not know that fate was working against him.

* * *

Wendell Bender had been fitted into the XM33 Battle Suit. It was a fairly simple exoskeletal armour system, painted in a sandy tan drab, but it hid a large amount of machines designed to augment the user's physical abilities.

"What do you think, son?" grinned Dr. Bender, as his son waved his arms about to test it, "How does it fit?"

"Like a glove," replied Wendell, "Or some braces!"

"Sanjay Bradley's gonna need a lot of those when you finish with him, son!" quipped Bender.

"Sure will, dad!" chuckled Wendell, "Shall I go after him?"

"Tomorrow, son – tomorrow."

* * *

Norm pushed open the door the castle and peered inside. There was sign of Jazz, so he walked further inside. He heard the door creak behind him.

"Oh no, you don't!" he snapped, conjuring an iron bar and jamming it in-between the doors. The door stopped, leaving a crack to the outside world.

"I am _not_ falling for the old 'lock the door behind them' trick," snarled Norm, as he walked into the entrance hall.

Now he thought of it, walk was technically the wrong term, but what were magical creatures supposed to say? Float? Hover? Why bother when walk and run were so convenient?

He was snapped out of his train of thought by a loud crash coming from upstairs. Making sure not to make any loud noises, Norm headed up the large stairs on the far edge of the room to another set of massive doors.

"What is with castles and massive doors?" he said to himself, "All it proves is that you're compensating, gees!"

He pushed through the massive doors into what seemed to be a library. As he moved further inside, however, he saw that there were no books – just large slabs of wood with titles on them.

"Genie…hey, up here!"

Norm looked up. A flash of maroon was squeezed in between two wooden books, with a small, podgy face printed on the spine.

"Oh, look, it's a fairy," said Norm, in fake surprise, "What else could have made this place?"

"Look, Mr. Genie, I don't really wanna be here myself," the fairy muttered, a heavy Bronx tone accenting his voice, "I'm trapped. Sarah took my magic for herself, and now I'm stuck in this form."

"Stuck, are you?" sighed Norm, dryly "Let me know how that feels like."

"Please, drop the tension for now," the fairy pleaded, "I need you to find Sarah, she'll be up in the high tower…"

"All I'm finding is Jazz so I can get out of here," snapped Norm.

"If she's lost in here, Sarah has her, plain and simple," the fairy continued, "Anyway, find Sarah, and help her. She's not a bad kid – not really."

"Riiiight," nodded Norm, "I get ya, high tower, go talk, whatever. You have fun."

The fairy scowled as Norm walked away.

"You tell me to have fun when _you've_ spent more then a year on a bookshelf!" he shouted.

* * *

Sabre Team gathered in the trees, looking from a rise towards the village of Carnot. It was a peaceful hamlet of one street, situated on a mountainside that seemed to stretch right to the clouds. The whole area was heavily forested.

"Looks like the Cave are using this town," Bishop noted, "A lot of kids around here – too many for such a small town."

"Where do you think they operate from?" asked Baker.

"Probably from the cave network on the mountain," shrugged Gavin, looking at the mountain face through his scope.

"Right, we'll head up there tomorrow," nodded Bishop, "It's gonna rain, and we don't wanna get caught in it with all our equipment."

"There's a logger's house half a click from here," mused Rourke, "We can set up there."

"Got it," nodded Bishop, "Morrissey, Gavin, you're on observation. We'll get you when the DZ is up."

"Hoo-rah," replied Gavin.

As the other three men of Sabre Team walked away, Gavin zoomed his scope. He could see children of all ages from eight to fifteen walking around on the street.

"This doesn't feel right," he blurted.

"What do you mean, Mark?" mused Morrissey.

"I've got my scope aimed at kids," replied Gavin, "One of them is probably on the Public Enemies list. We're forcing these kids to grow up too quickly, making them into partisans when they should be in grade school."

"I know," nodded Morrissey, "But what can we do? It's what the brass have been talking about – these kids have the power to move mountains. How are we supposed to treat them?"

"I don't know, Ted," sighed Gavin, "I don't know."

He returned to his scope, and nothing more was said.

* * *

The first thing Jazz saw as she came to was the girl from the pictures.

Sarah Cummings sat in a seat, looking out the window. They seemed to be in a tower, looking over her very own life sized toy village.

The girl had changed little in attire since the photo. She was taller, and her hair was slightly longer, but she was certainly the same girl. The main difference was her dour expression, far removed from the saccharine world outside.

Next to her stood the woman Jazz identified as Lilith Cummings. She was next to her daughter, standing perfectly still. Her back was turned, her hands on her chest. She could not see any of her skin, in fact. It was very, very unnerving.

"You came from outside," said Sarah, simply. Her tone showed little expression.

"Err…yeah," nodded Jazz, trying not to stutter, "I was just passing through on the way to Carnot, but I saw this place and thought you might need someone to…"

Sarah turned on her heel, her face twisting into anger.

"All of you from the outside are bad!" she shouted, "You sent your soldiers and their guns in to ruin everything! Look what became of them!"

She pointed to a shelf. A collection of seven Russian Dolls stood in a row, all painted to look like soldiers.

Jazz's stomach seemed to drop a mile.

"I'm not like them," she said, trying to keep a cool tone, "All I wanted to do was talk to you…"

Sarah stopped ranting.

"Talk?" she said, quietly.

"Yeah," nodded Jazz, noting Sarah's face falling. She looked confused, and just a little bit sad.

"Nobody ever comes to talk," muttered Sarah, "Nobody came to talk to me when daddy died. Nobody came to talk to me when Freddy got taken to that barn by the big, muscly guy. Nobody but mommy."

She glanced sadly at Lilith, whose back was still turned.

"I kept her," she whispered, "I turned everyone else into toys and other stuff…but I kept her intact. I just…changed her a bit."

Lilith turned around.

Jazz barely swallowed a scream.

Her skin was a pink felt, her arms just balls on the end of them. She had a female shape, but it seemed more like she was filled with fluff rather then bone. Her head was a perfect, earless oval. Her eyes were green beads, her nose non-existent and her mouth a threaded line. She would look cute if she was small and not alive – but alive and life-sized, she looked horrifying.

"I will take care of you," she said, simply. Her mouth did not move.

"She doesn't act right anymore," sighed Sarah, "But you…you're a friend."

She grinned. Jazz suddenly began to quite worried.

"You're gonna stay and talk, aren't you?" Sarah smiled, "You're gonna stay and talk _forever_."

Flash.

* * *

Jazz Fenton blinked. She was still in the tower, but everything seemed – different.

She looked down at herself.

Perfectly normal.

Except for the fact that she was tied to a chair with what appeared to be magic rope.

And then there was one.

* * *

Veronica yawned. She had been writing for most of the evening, but it was all worth it. Her project only needed one more night to complete.

"OK guys, I'm going to bed!" she called.

"What?" a voice called from the cupboard, "Is this something about bacon?"

"No it isn't, Cosmo, get back to sleep!" snapped another.

"Poof?" another whimpered.

Veronica smiled.

"One more night," she said, "One more night and everything can end."

"Yeah, that's nice, I'm tired," sighed Cosmo.

"Night guys," chuckled Veronica.

She turned out the light and climbed into bed. On her desk, a large stack of paper labelled 'Da Rules – Revision' was beginning to look very complete.


	6. Chapter 5: Questions and Answers

Whoa, I'm on a roll this week. Still, I'm having fun, that's the main thing. Just a little thing, Sabre Team belongs to my brother. It's my way of thanking him for letting me watch Doctor Who.

Review replies;

**unknown20troper:** Thanks for reviewing! I put the stuck scene in as a little (affectionate) jab at the whole 'I'm stuck in a lamp ANGST' thing - Norm's jaded, certainly, but he doesn't strike me as angsty.

**TweenisodeOrange:** Tell me about it. Thanks for reviewing!

**OddAuthor:** Thanks for reviewing! You'll get to see Jimmy's plan in action next chapter - it'll be fun, let me tell you. :D (I don't like the Mayor.)  
**

* * *

Chapter Five: Questions and Answers**

The darkness of the night had fallen over the Western United States. With the exception of Jensenberg – where an unnatural hole in the cloud cover existed – a rain front had blown over, with a large downpour falling over the city of Dimmsdale.

Veronica walked through the park, a coat draped over her to protect her from the wet weather. If her parents knew she was out, they'd be very, very annoyed – but they were asleep, so she felt pretty safe about leaving.

Presently she arrived at a forest, a few hundred metres walk from her house. Entering the overgrowth, she arrived at a tree, larger then most, a door nestled snugly in the trunk.

Opening it, Veronica stepped down a small flight of stairs to a wooden cavern, lit by candles, where a small, plain table had been placed.

It was labelled '_Per Cella pro Oberon quod Titannia.'_

Sitting alone on the marked table was an unlit candle. Veronica pulled a box of matches from her pocket.

* * *

"Max!"

Bishop looked to the door of the logger's house as Gavin walked inside.

"We got a prisoner," he explained, "Fairy. James got him with the net."

Baker followed him in, a netted fairy in his grasp.

"Did you get his name?" as Bishop.

"He says his name's Binky," shrugged Baker.

"Hi," grinned Binky, "How's it going?"

"Um…aren't you concerned that you've been captured?" asked Morrissey.

"Are you guys F.A.I.R.?" asked Binky.

"No, we're the Marines," snapped Rourke, somewhat defensively.

"Oh, OK, that's fine," said Binky, brightly.

"Idiot," shot Gavin, under his breath.

"Alright, if there's no hostility here," mused Bishop, "I need to ask you a few questions."

* * *

Norm had been ambling about the castle for about two hours now. Go to the high tower, the fairy had said. It would have been nice, in retrospect, to be told where the high tower was.

Now, however, he believed he was on to something. Floating up a large, winding staircase (it looked like someone had slapped it together with LEGO – very badly), he arrived at a door.

"Looks like this is it," shrugged Norm, "This is gonna be a barrel of laughs."

He sighed heavily, and opened the door.

"…what."

Jazz was tied to a chair. Sarah was sitting on her own chair, and a small table was placed between them. On that table was what was obviously Battleship.

"You're playing Battleship?" mused Norm, bemused.

Sarah turned around, her expression darkening.

"Who the heck are you?" she shouted.

"She's a friend, Sarah," replied Jazz, calmly.

"Uh…hi," nodded Norm, slowly.

Sarah growled.

"Go away, we're playing," she sneered.

"Calm down…" began Jazz.

"B-5," snapped Sarah.

There were a small explosion on Jazz's side of the board. A small submarine piece shot into the air.

"Now remember," reminded Sarah, "If you win, we play again. If you lose, I get to use my magic on you."

Jazz nodded, somewhat shakily.

"I think you've gotten yourself a bad deal here," whispered Norm.

Jazz scowled at him.

* * *

Having lit the candle on the table, Veronica stood back and watched as the flame grew larger and brighter.

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Veronica, it's only been a short time since we last spoke," it said, in a high-class English accent.

"It's been six months," reminded Veronica.

"Six months, six hours, what on earth is the difference," sneered the candle, "The main thing is that it's too blooming soon – children these days…"

"Oberon…"

"…and that's another thing!" the candle snapped, "You never use my full title! It's _King_ Oberon, former King of Fairy World, former Holder of Da Rules, Protector of Anti-Fairy World, Lord Chancellor of Pixie World, Tsar of all the Elves, Duke of the Fae Heights, Elector of the Holy Magic Empire, High Consul of…"

"_Oberon!"_ shouted Veronica, "It's nearly done!"

There was a short silence.

"Oh is it?" Oberon said at last, "Oh. That is important. You've nearly finished the new Rules."

"It just needs to be signed," nodded Veronica.

"Do you have the right signatories?" asked Oberon, "The God of Love?"

"Yes."

"A Juror of Fairy World?"

"Yeah, Juandissimo volunteered for jury work."

"Close enough. An ordinary citizen of Fairy World?"

"That'll be Wanda," replied Veronica.

"Good," said Oberon, "That leaves the final participant – the Holder of Da Rules."

"The what?" asked Veronica, confused.

"The Holder of Da Rules," replied Oberon, "The position of Head Fairy. I was the first – the Fairy Council took the job from me after the Revolution. I believe the last Holder was Von Strangle."

"So who would be Holder now?" asked Veronica.

There was a short silence.

"Irregardless of species," said Oberon, soberly, "Whoever signs for the position of Holder will become Head Fairy. That is why it is imperative that you do not let it fall into the hands of less honourable parties."

"So who _should_ be Holder?" demanded Veronica.

"Whoever," replied Oberon, "Would willingly and happily sign away their livelihood, to take up the banner of Holder and never abuse that power. Whoever would take it up with only the fairies happiness, the godchildren's happiness and the happiness of all in mind…"

There was a dark chuckle.

"Suffice to say, I don't think we've ever really had such a Holder."

The candle blew out, leaving Veronica in darkness.

* * *

"…and then in 471, the Fairy Revolution was fought against King Oberon and Queen Titannia…"

"Why do we need to know this?" demanded Gavin.

"I dunno, it could be worth something," shrugged Baker.

Sabre Team was being brought through a lengthy history of Fairy World by Binky, who claimed to have once held a position as an assistant librarian. He certainly did know things – just not what anyone really needed to know.

"Look, can you just tell us what the Cave is?" asked Bishop, annoyed.

"Oh, why didn't you say so," grinned Binky, "The Cave's a resistance network against F.A.I.R. made up of fairies and their god kids. They're led by Molly Keith, Chester McBadbat and Tootie Delisle."

"You getting this down?" asked Bishop.

"Yep," nodded Morrissey, writing on some note paper.

"Why are they resisting?" asked Bishop, "Aren't F.A.I.R. getting god kids to help them?"

"No," replied Binky, his face falling, "They're not."

Bishop got a bad feeling in his gut.

"But…the help centres in the desert," he began, "They're…"

"Death Camps."

There was a very long silence.

"What?" gasped Gavin, at last.

"Fairies go in, you never hear from them again," replied Binky, "They get forced to work, making something called Project Oppenheimer – if you get sick or injured, you get…vanished."

Bishop felt sick.

"T-that can't be true," he snapped, "You've gotta be lying!"

"I'm just saying what I'm told," shrugged Binky.

Gavin picked up the radio.

"Uh, command, this is Sabre, do you know anything about a Project Oppenheimer?"

There was a short pause.

"_Sabre, how the hell do you know that name?"_

Gavin dropped the radio.

"My god," he stammered, "H-he's telling the truth."

Bishop paled.

* * *

"J-8," said Sarah.

There was another explosion, and a battleship piece shot into the air.

Norm leant over to look at Jazz's side of the board.

"Well, she just won," he deadpanned, "Any other ideas, genius?"

Jazz buried her head in her hands.

"No," she sighed.

"OK," grinned Sarah, "I get to turn you into…"

"Wait a minute."

Norm turned around.

"I've got a challenge," he explained, "If I beat _you_, we get to leave unharmed. If you beat _me…"_

There was an impressive pause.

"…you get to be a genie, like I am," finished Norm.

"What?" demanded Jazz.

"Yep, a genie," replied Norm, "An all-powerful genie. What do you say?"

"I've already got fairy magic," mused Sarah.

"Oh, trust me, genie magic is a whole different league," grinned Norm.

Sarah seemed to think for a minute.

"Fine," she said at last, "What game?"

"Simple," replied Norm, producing a coin, "Head or Tails?"

"Tails," replied Sarah.

Norm flipped the coin.

"Aw, smoof," he cursed.

"You lost?" snapped Jazz.

"Yep," nodded Norm, his voice sounding somewhat forced, "Now she gets to be an all-powerful genie. We're all doomed."

Sarah grinned.

Her legs merged together to form a green tail. She tripled in size and floated up to the roof. Her grin seemed very, very off.

"Now," she yelled, her voice echoing, "What do I do with you, Jazz?"

"Absolutely nothing, actually," replied Norm, pulling something from his pockets, "You see, you're a genie and…"

He grinned as a look a horrified realization crossed Sarah's face.

"…here's your lamp."

* * *

"I vote we stick around," said Rourke, "I mean, we can't just walk right into the Cave dressed in full USMC uniform!"

"We don't need to," replied Gavin, "There's that sect in Germany that's taking in our deserters. We could go there."

"Yeah, how the hell are we supposed to get to Germany?" snapped Baker.

"Look, I reckon we should take our chances with the Cave," mused Morrissey, "We can convince them we're on our side. Binky can vouch for us."

"Yeah, Binky," nodded Baker, wryly, "Let's all listen to the short, loud, funny one, that'll work. Heck, it worked for the French!"

"I take offence to that!" snapped Binky, "I'm not short!"

"Of course you're not," sighed Gavin, "Look, it's up to you, Max – what're we gonna do?"

Bishop looked at his men, a thoughtful look on his face.

"On one side, going against the government is high treason," he considered, "We'd be court marshalled, if F.A.I.R. didn't just quietly take us behind the shed."

Rourke nodded.

"On the other hand, these camps are definitely criminal," Bishop continued, "I don't know about you guys, but I didn't sign up to the Corps to kill civilians."

There was a short silence.

"Binky, where is the cave?" asked Bishop.

"I can take you there," replied Binky, brightly.

"Right," nodded Bishop, "Guys, what we're about to do is completely against our orders – anyone wanna back out?"

Rourke and Baker seemed hesitant, but eventually shook their heads.

"We're in this together," grinned Bishop, "Hoo-Rah?"

"_Hoo-Rah!_"

With that, Sabre Team officially went AWOL.

* * *

Across the world, several people were waiting, be it for something that would come on the morn, or would not come for a while, or even could come at any moment at all.

In Wisconsin, Vladimir Masters had found that his house was fast becoming an unwilling hotel. Along with Daniel and his friends, Samantha and Victoria, he'd also taken in a small child known as AJ Ibrehim.

Walking into his study, Vlad found AJ sitting at the table, writing.

"Alexander," he noted, "What brings you up at this time of night?"

"It's AJ," snapped AJ, "And I'm working on something."

"Oh really," nodded Vlad, suspiciously, "And what might that be?"

"It doesn't matter to you," replied AJ, "You won't help us."

"I've given you shelter," snapped Vlad, defensively, "What on Earth more do you want?"

"The Red Huntress."

Vlad paused.

"What?"

"Valerie Grey, the Red Huntress," replied AJ, "We've been in correspondence in a while, Mr. Masters."

"I don't have the faintest care in the world about that," growled Vlad.

"Really?" mused AJ, "I guess you don't care that she's coming here, then. She's offered to help us, Mr. Masters."

"_Why did you bring her here?_" thundered Vlad, "Obviously Daniel's told us our business together has ended, so…"

"Oh, she's coming, alright," grinned AJ, "Timmy will be home in less then six weeks, if Clockwork was being exact. He'll need all the help he can get."

AJ's grin widened.

"And what kind of person wouldn't help her little cousin, eh?"

* * *

For those who are interested, I took Oberon and Titannia from the FOP PS2 game, 'Shadow Showdown'.


	7. Chapter 6: Dissent

Another chapter, another dollar - except I don't get paid to do this. Oh well. :D

And now, replies to my gallant reviewers;

**OddAuthor:** Thanks very much! My brother is quite happy that you've been noticing the marines, incidentally.

**unknown20troper:** Thanks for reviewing! It seemed like the kind of thing he'd do, to present a set of options in which it was impossible to win.

**Clockwork Orange King:** Thank you very much, I'm quite flattered! :) I'll try to cut back on the irregardlesses - I just really like that word, is all. :D

One more thing - a small cameo for anyone who spots the Heroes reference.  
**

* * *

Chapter Six: Dissent**

Chester McBadbat sat in the mouth of the cave, peeling potatoes.

Food was a hard-to-come-by commodity for the Cave – wishing up food was too obvious, as nobody knew if F.A.I.R. could track magic. This was why they spread themselves across the entire cave network – several villages and vantage points to raid for food. As the largest and most easily accessible of the villages, Carnot was a good target, and the local 7/11 shop often found that its stores…vanished overnight.

Once food was acquired, several people were needed to prepare it – after all, there was at least six dozen kids, plus an average of one fairy for each of those kids, and this was the main cave alone.

Chester was up for food duty today, and was preparing a meal of potatoes with a side of…potatoes. What was desert? Potatoes.

He finished with a potato and was about to pick up another one when he heard a rustling in the bushes.

"God damn it, Mark, you just stood on my foot, you son of a b-"

"Rourke, shut it. I think we're there. Is this it, Binky?"

"Yep, this is the Cave, go on in!"

Out of the bushes stepped five soldiers, being led by Binky. Chester's eyes widened.

"_GOVERNMENT!"_ he yelled, "_THE FEDS ARE COMING!_"

"No, wait, we're not the Feds!" began their leader.

"You're not?" mused Chester.

There was a short silence. Nobody came, meaning that Chester's yell had not been as loud as he had hoped.

"Yeah, I'm Lieutenant Max Bishop, USMC Force Recon, Sabre Team," he explained, "We'd like to join your little network."

"How do I know I can trust you?" demanded Chester.

"We know about Project Oppenheimer," replied Bishop, "We've heard that kids and fairies are being forced to work on…something, and we decided we didn't wanna be involved."

There was another short pause.

"I'll take you to see Molly," said Chester at last.

* * *

The Mayor of Dimmsdale hummed a tune as he drove to the F.A.I.R. headquarters. It was a nice day (well, actually it was raining buckets, but he meant nice as in good). He'd passed a few bills, raised taxes – all in all, things were great.

He flicked on the radio, deciding to catch up on the world news.

"…_causing large scale destruction to the City of Rome,"_ the newsreader was saying, "_In other news, President Henry Edward Fulton today proclaimed the Penn Station Act, proclaiming that any and all property belonging to godchildren is immediately forfeit to the United States Government. This act was passed in order to pay of the growing budget deficit caused by the Magic Crisis'. The President stated…"_

The radio fizzled out for several seconds. When it returned, a very different voice was being played.

"_Good morning, Mister Mayor._"

The Mayor rolled his eyes. Evidently, someone else was using the radio to complain about him. Again. Faewatch was bad enough…

"_You may not know us, Mister Mayor, but we know you. Isn't that right, Ms. Foliax?"_

Another, feminine voice responded.

"_We certainly do, Mister Neutron. We know about everything you've been doing with F.A.I.R. Do you really think it's legal for them to get away with everything you let them do, Mister Neutron?"_

"_Not at all, Ms. Foliax. In fact, I think it might be a good idea to give Mister Mayor a message, do you?"_

"_Seems like it might, Mister Neutron. Will you do the honours, Mister Abrahams?"_

"_With pleasure."_

The Mayor's back windshield shattered as a large rock was thrown through it. The Mayor jumped, and stopped his car.

Jimmy and Libby calmly walked in front of the car from behind a corner, while Francis walked up from behind. Libby opened the door.

"Now Mister Mayor, can we have a word?"

The Mayor stared, trying to comprehend what was happened.

"Eh?" he mumbled at last.

"We know about your input to F.A.I.R., Mister Mayor," grinned Jimmy, "I don't know about you, but I don't think they were meant to be your bodyguard."

"Don't think so," added Libby, also grinning, "Having them attack people because they support Timmy Turner over you? That's pretty low, so we came out from the Dimmsdale Flatts Mall to give you your…punishment."

Francis grabbed the Mayor by the collar and pulled him out of the car.

"If you're still anywhere _near _F.A.I.R. by next week, you're gonna get a lot worse then this," he snarled.

"T-then what?" shuddered the Mayor.

Francis grinned, and formed his hand into a fist.

"This one's from the Resistance."

* * *

Molly leant against the wall of the cavern, arms crossed, as Bishop finished relating their story.

"…and that's why we went AWOL," finished Bishop.

"What do you think?" mused Chester, "I say throw 'em out."

"Well nobody asked for your opinion," snapped Rourke.

"Rourke, we're trying to get in here," shot Baker, "That ain't helping."

"Fah," snorted Rourke, "Just saying."

"I don't know about this," mused Molly, a scowl on her face, "How do we know we can trust you? You worked for F.A.I.R…"

"We did, but we don't now," replied Bishop, "Listen, I can't prove that we're any more trustworthy then the rest of the Corps, but we have weapons, we have supplies on us, we can help. Just give us a chance."

Molly looked thoughtful.

"You're right," she said at last, "You can't prove that we can trust you…"

Chester grinned and pointed at the way out. Rourke scowled at him.

"…but you have stuff we need," finished Molly, "They're staying."

"You won't regret it," grinned Bishop, "Alright guys, set up, we're in."

"At least we're out of the rain," shrugged Gavin, dropping his rifle on a rock, "I'm gonna go find Binky."

As he walked away, Molly turned her eyes to the discarded rifle.

"We'll need some of those," she said.

"But you're a kid," Morrissey pointed out, "You shouldn't even be thinking about needing guns at your age!"

"Nope," nodded Molly, glaring, "I shouldn't be leading a resistance against the government at my age, either."

She got up and stormed away. Morrissey looked at his feet.

"We forced these kids into an army," he sighed, "What kind of monsters are we?"

"People suck, friend," shrugged Rourke, matter-of-factly, "Never forget that."

* * *

Jazz sighed heavily as she climbed back into the car.

"That was an interesting side tour," said Norm in a sardonic tone as he got into the passenger seat, "Where to next, Wonderland?"

"Look at this place," replied Jazz, a scowl crossing her face, "We haven't changed anything!"

"Nope," replied Norm, crossing his arms, "Fairy magic. My genie magic can't affect it without the consent of the fairy. That fairy can't get his magic back unless Sarah willingly gives it."

He shoved the lamp into the glove department.

"Don't think she'll be doing that for a while."

Jazz snorted, and started the car.

They drove in silence for some time, away from Jensenberg and back into normality. Here, they met the rain, a refreshing sight from the unnatural brightness of the town they had left.

Jazz, however, was still down.

Norm continuously tried to ignore his companion, but found that the silence was irking him. Once again, he found himself cursing his newfound conscience.

"Look," he said at last, "I know this is disappointing, but it isn't your fault, it's Mrs. Disconcerting's."

"I know," Jazz nodded, glumly.

Norm gave a small smile.

"Let me put it this way," he added, "Maybe, when the Great Toothsader gets back, he can use that Light magic he has to fix that town before I gut him like a fish for making me to this!"

Jazz glared.

Then she let out a small smile.

"There we go," grinned Norm, "Now I don't have to feel awkward anymore."

He pulled out his magazine again and silence reigned once more. This time, however, it did not feel quite so suffocating.

* * *

The Director was pacing.

Freakshow had taken him to Washington, where he had appealed to the President. Fulton was a gullible man – he was easily convinced that Freakshow's plan was the future.

Now, he was in the HQ building of a large complex in South-Western Texas. He was the overseer of work on Project Oppenheimer, and he was enjoying every second of it.

Until now, that is.

"What d'you mean Sabre Team went missing?" he snapped.

"I'm just saying it like it is, sir," shrugged the F.A.I.R. officer he was speaking with.

"Carnot, right, it's Carnot," mused the Director, "That confirms it, it's the Cave. Gather the tanks, I want that village wrecked within the week, got it Major?"

"Got it, sir."

"Good, good," nodded the Director, "I'll tell Showsenhower. We might be gone for the activation, but it's worth it to crush the Cave. Dismissed."

The officer left the room, never noticing the grin on the Director's face.

"Here's hoping Freakshow can open that wormhole without me," he mused.

* * *

Dr. Bender rubbed his head with frustration.

It had not been a good day. The Mayor had been ambushed on his way to F.A.I.R. Headquarters, arriving heavily beaten and terrified. He'd immediately declared that he intended to stay far away from F.A.I.R. and had to have sense yelled into him.

Sanjay Bradley had turned up in protest at the Dimmsdale Elementary School, but had slunk back into the shadows before Wendell could get there.

"Can this week get any worse?" he demanded to himself.

He was about to find out just how much it could.


	8. Chapter 7: Tensions

Here's some more to round up my big update week!

Review replies;

**OddAuthor:** Yay! I like long reviews! I'm glad you liked what I did with Chester, although it's kind of depressing, isn't it?

**unknown20troper:** Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you liked that rule.

**TweenisodeOrange:** Thanks for reviewing! Funny you should mention Danny, really...  
**

* * *

Chapter Seven: Tensions**

President Fulton stormed through the halls of the White House as aides handed him papers and folders.

"This one's from Italy, sir. Something about explosions…"

"F.A.I.R. success rate for this week…"

"…and this one is for those unpaid parking tickets…"

The President sighed, and called into a radio.

"Jim, I want you to open the window for me," he ordered.

"_Copy that_."

Fulton continued to storm towards the Oval Office as the pile of papers got larger and larger. At last he reached the door, and practically booted it open.

"Mr. President, sir," nodded the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"Morning, General," replied the President, walking up to his office.

He stood behind his desk, taking in the attendees to the meeting. Doombringer, the Head of the CIA and the Chairman. As usual.

"Gentlemen," he declared, "Let the work of government begin."

He hurled the papers in his arms out the window, slamming it shut behind him.

"Let me tell you right now," he snapped, "I am sick, _sick_ of you all! Every time I come in here, it's always 'what are we doing about the fairies?' If you were doing your jobs, you wouldn't need to ask me!"

"Mr. President, we require your authorization to do…"

"Then it's authorized!" shouted the President, taking the Head of the CIA aback, "Whatever you wanna do, _just do it!_ Drive a tank through Dimmsdale if you absolutely must, just show some god damn initiative!"

"Is there a reason for this outburst, Mr. President?" asked Doombringer, confused.

"You're damn right there is!" snapped Fulton, "All I ever hear about is fairies! Well, guess what? This nation has a catastrophic dept, unemployment is skyrocketing and OPEC is planning to switch to the Euro. Wanna know how I found that out?"

There was a short pause.

"_I read it in the newspaper!_" thundered the President, "D'you think – as the most powerful man in the most powerful capitalistic nation on Earth – I might just _want_ to know where our money is going?"

"Mr. President, I can assure you…" began the Head of the CIA.

"I'm not interested in your excuses!" shouted Fulton, "_Get out! Go on, all of you,_ _GET OUT!"_

The Head of the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs practically ran out the door. Doombringer made to follow.

"Not you, Doombringer."

Doombringer turned.

"Doombringer, I'm giving you complete control of F.A.I.R. and a blank cheque," said the President, calming down at little, "I want Oppenheimer done by the end of this week, got it."

"Got it, Mr. President," nodded Doombringer.

"Good," sighed the President, picking up his radio, "Johnson, get me a coffee, a calculator and a video conference with OPEC – this is gonna be a long day."

* * *

"…_reports continue to circulate about the possibility that the President may be on the verge of a mental breakdown," _the reporter was saying, "_The President has denied these claims, stating…"_

"Don't you just want to punch that face every time you see it?" asked Rourke.

Gavin and Rourke were watching the news on Gavin's PDA. Around them, the members of the Cave were resting before guard duty or food duty. The system worked by rotation – the Cave was divided into groups who did a few hours of guard duty, a few hours of food preparation, a few hours of rest and so on.

"Hey, Mark," Morrissey called, walking up to his squad-mates, "Max wants to see you."

Gavin nodded, and picked himself up. He made his way through the cave system to the armoury, which currently consisted mostly of sticks, branches, rocks, and other blunt objects spread by nature.

"You see all this, Mark," Bishop sighed, looking at his number two, "If Fulton attacks us with just this, we'll be slaughtered."

"So what do we do?" asked Gavin.

"Hand me your sidearm."

Gavin pulled his pistol from his holster and gave it to Bishop.

"Right, if we all donate our pistols, that gives us…five extra weapons for the Cave," mused Bishop.

"Four," corrected Gavin, "James won't give up his – he bought it himself."

"Four," sighed Bishop, "In short, nowhere near enough."

"Why can't we just magic up defences?" asked Gavin.

"That'll attract attention," replied Bishop, "F.A.I.R. might be able to track it."

"Oh," nodded Gavin, "So what do we do?"

"Heavy physical, Mark, heavy physical," answered Bishop, "It's time to train these kids."

* * *

Two F.A.I.R. personnel were standing unenthusiastically in front of a truck in a warehouse. Inside the truck was a shipment of supplies to be used by F.A.I.R. in it's execution of duties.

"I can't believe that sweep of Dimmsdale Flatts turned up nothing," mused one, "It's almost like they were lying to us about that…"

"They probably were, Bill," sighed his accomplice.

Behind them, Chad and Cindy darted from behind a few boxes. Grinning, Chad lifted up the large brake on the side of the truck, while Cindy opened the back door to the warehouse. They departed as quickly as they'd arrived.

The warehouse was situated on a hill – directly down the road from Lake Dimmsdale. The truck groaned and began to roll backwards.

The two guards turned around.

The truck rolled out the door.

"Aw crap," moaned the first guard.

The two ran after the truck, but it was all for naught. It rolled to the bottom of the hill and off a pier, sinking into the deep water of the lake.

"Damn," sighed the second guard, "It's the third one this week."

Not far away, Cindy and Chad were laughing themselves hoarse.

* * *

"Alright, obviously there are a few things we need to go through," began Bishop.

He had taken most of the kids not on essential guard or food duty out to a small clearing near Carnot itself. The rain had subsided, but it was still rather wet and muddy.

Perfect training weather.

"First of all, you are here for your own good," he boomed, "Unless we can whip you into some form of fighting condition – we're doomed."

"But we've _have_ been training," shot Chester.

"You've been encouraging training," corrected Bishop, "Tell me – how many of you actually have been preparing?"

A few hands rose, but for the most part, there was just awkward glares.

"Well, you can't get away with that anymore," stated Bishop, "Eventually, F.A.I.R.'s gonna find this place. Once they do that, Fulton will give 'em everything they need to grind your little resistance into dust. Now, we can't promise you victory – but we can help you claim it yourself."

He let that sink in for a few moments.

"We'll divide into teams," he finished, "Sergeant Gavin will take Red Team, Sergeant Morrissey will take Blue and Sergeant Baker will take Green. Rourke, you stay with me."

The teams began to disperse, leaving Molly, Chester and Tootie behind.

"You're the guys in charge here, right?"

"Technically," shrugged Tootie, "We just happen to follow Molly around a lot."

"Right," nodded Bishop, "You know what Fulton's gonna throw at us?"

"The army, duh," replied Chester, rolling his eyes.

"The US military has tanks, planes, bombers, warships, smart-bombs, armoured cars and nuclear weapons," shot Rourke, "We have a variety of blunt objects. We're gonna need your magic."

"No," snapped Molly, "If we use too much magic, the Feds will find us."

"They'll find you anyway," replied Bishop, grimly, "F.A.I.R. already knows you operate somewhere around Carnot. They'll be here within the week at best estimate."

Molly glared for a few seconds.

"Only when they come," she said at last.

She walked quickly away.

* * *

"We've lost _how_ much?" demanded Dr. Bender.

"It's hard to tell at this point," his advisor was explaining, "At last count, twelve supply trucks have been wrecked, and there have been many organized protests across the city."

Bender clenched his fists. It had been three days since the Mayor had been ambushed, and things were going wrong.

"That's it, I need Intel on this Resistance network," he snapped, "Wendell!"

Wendell stepped into the control room.

"Yes dad?"

"I want you to grab Sanjay Bradley, right now," Bender ordered.

"Won't the resistance notice?" asked Wendell.

"They would," nodded Bender, "But I have a plan…"

* * *

Danny paced across Vlad's living room, looking grim. On the lounges, Sam, Vicky, AJ and Valerie waited for him to speak.

"Alright, guys," Danny began, "As you know, it's been nearly two years since Timmy and Dani left. For the past few months, me and AJ have been planning for his return."

He dug into his pocket, pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper.

"Last week, AJ found this in Vlad's yard," he explained, "It was coded, but he translated it."

He cleared his throat, and began to read.

"_The Landships will roll on the cave,  
The fair will fall down on the brave,  
The Light will return to match the dark,  
The World will bow down to the ark.  
It begins March 14."_

He let that sink in for a bit.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" snapped Vicky at last.

"Well, 'the fair' has to be F.A.I.R., right?" pondered AJ, "Landships are tanks, 'the cave's' gotta be the Cave and…"

"The Light is Timmy," finished Sam.

"…and March the 14th is tomorrow," nodded Valerie.

There was a short silence.

"So the twerp comes back tomorrow," mused Vicky, "I'll get to show him my new tricks…"

Her hand glowed a slight pink shade. It matched her eye colour.

"Yeah," nodded Sam, sarcastically, "You can make your hand glow. Neat trick."

Vicky rolled her eyes.

"So, have we got everyone?" asked Danny.

"Jazz is headed for the Cave," mused AJ, "I've called everyone else. For some reason, Colonel Atkinson says he has to make a pit stop, but everyone else should be there for tomorrow."

"Where's 'there'?" asked Valerie.

"Val, you know Dimmsdale, right?" mused Danny.

"That heckhole?" exclaimed Valerie, "You think they'll let us walk right in and pick up Timmy Turner?"

"They don't have to see us walk right in," replied Danny.

"What are you gonna do, make us invisible?" snapped Valerie.

There was a long silence.

"Uh…Val," said Danny, apprehensively, "Remember when the GiW arrested me for being a ghost?"

"Yeah," nodded Valerie, "It was in the news."

"That…sorta…maybe…might have been the truth," finished Danny, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You're ribbing me, right?" assumed Valerie.

_Well, might as well not beat around the bush,_ thought Danny.

White rings appeared around his midsection. Valerie's jaw dropped as he turned into Danny Phantom.

There was a long silence.

"Y-you're Phantom?" stammered Valerie.

"Uh…yeah," nodded Danny, "Look, I know what you're thinking right now, but I'm not a ghost, I'm half human. Like Dani, remember?"

There was another long silence.

"Uh…so…uh…I'm just gonna start running now, OK," began Danny.

Valerie blinked.

Then she started laughing.

"What the heck?" demanded Danny, "What's so funny? I thought you hated me?"

"I can't believe I didn't place it before," chuckled Valerie, "Fenton – Phantom – you are _so _unoriginal!"

"So…you don't hate me?"

"We'll call it a truce, Fenton," sighed Valerie, dryly.

* * *

Norm was looking at the window as Jazz drove towards Carnot. He was bored, and he'd exhausted his entire stockpile of _Genies Monthly_ mags. And no, he wasn't going to stoop so low as to read them all again.

A milestone flew by.

"Y'know, every time I see one of those," he sighed, "It reminds me of my life ticking down."

"Knock it off, Norm," replied Jazz, "Carnot's just ten minutes away!"

"Looks like its getting tourists, too," pointed Norm, dryly.

Jazz looked out Norm's window and gasped.

Just down the rise, a valley had turned into a hive of activity. Transport and Attack Helicopters were taking off and landing as infantrymen, tanks and other assorted vehicles arranged themselves for what would certainly be an attack.

"Y'know how I said we'd be there in ten minutes?" reminded Jazz.

"Did you change your mind?"

"Yep."

Jazz floored it, and the car shot in the direction of Carnot. The Cave had to be warned of the impending attack.


	9. Chapter 8: The Attack

Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy. WARNING: Precision S Strike.

Review replies;

**unknown20troper:** Thanks for the review! I needed some humour there, really, otherwise this would all be insanely depressing.

**OddAuthor:** Timmy will be back very soon, mark my words...

**TweenisodeOrange:** Well, I couldn't ignore Danny, he's too awesome! Thanks for reviewing!  
**

* * *

Chapter Eight: The Attack**

Sanjay sat in his room, typing on a computer.

The website he was visiting was known as 'I'm With Timmy dot com', a website he had made that supported Timmy almost to the point of hero worship. It had been blocked by the US Government several times, so he'd moved it to a Canadian server.

He was just about to put up an update when he received an email. It was short, but to the point.

LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW.

Sanjay looked.

The window was blasted open. Sanjay gaped as Wendell Bender, dressed in some sort of combat suit, burst into the room.

"It's time for your dental appointment!" he taunted.

"You don't scare me!" snapped Sanjay, "The Resistance…"

"…we're keeping them busy," grinned Wendell.

* * *

Military vehicles on the streets of Dimmsdale were not an uncommon sight, what with F.A.I.R.'s presence. This was how the Stryker managed to drive through the streets of Dimmsdale without fuss.

The eight-wheeled behemoth drove into the rich section of Dimmsdale, stopping in front of a relatively well-furnished house – the home of Chad Grey.

Across the road, Veronica Star was still deliberating on who should sign Da Rules, on who should become Holder. Hearing the Stryker pull up, she looked out her window.

The armoured vehicle aimed its gun at Chad's house – and fired.

* * *

Carnot was peaceful, feeling the first rays of sunlight flow over the valley. Its windows shone in the morning light, as its inhabitants left home for their daily activities.

The silence was shattered as the ear-splitting roar of jet fighters filled the air.

A flight of four attack jets – F/A-18 Hornets, not that anyone really cared – swooped down on the township and jettisoned their missiles on anything that had four or more wheels – cars, trucks and even a bus.

Having dropped their payloads, the jets dispersed – in favour of two gigantic bomber aircraft, dropping their own massive bombload on the township.

From the cave mouth, Chester and Bishop watched, the former with increasing disgust.

"Why are they attacking the town?" he demanded, "They're innocent people, most of them don't even know we're up here…"

"Doombringer's trying to make sure no-one's hiding in Carnot itself," replied Bishop, "The best way to do that is to flatten the town."

"You're not even gonna feel bad for them?" snapped Chester.

"I am," corrected Bishop, "_After_ they attack."

His eyes narrowed.

"If we're still around by then."

* * *

Jimmy walked down the street towards the rich part of Dimmsdale, humming a little tune. He felt good – the Resistance had caused a great deal of trouble for F.A.I.R., which would make things a lot easier for Timmy when he got home.

His humming stopped, however, when he heard a noise in the distance.

BANG-BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG.

Jimmy quickened his pace into a run, bolting towards Chad's house.

He turned the corner as a Stryker finished firing on Chad's house and drove away. By this point, little remained of the structure – the walls had been torn up, leaving a vaguely house-shaped pile of rubble.

Jimmy ran to the rubble, finding Veronica already sifting through it.

"Aren't you Veronica?" asked Jimmy, "Where's Chad?"

"I've found him," replied Veronica, pointing to a small hole she'd found, "I think he's knocked out."

"Any sign of his parents?"

"They're gone," answered Veronica in a downbeat tone.

Jimmy nodded, and made to help Veronica shift through the rubble. Once his neck had been cleared, Jimmy pressed his hand on it.

"No pulse," he announced, sadly, "And he isn't breathing, either. He's dead."

"Why would they go after Chad?" mused Veronica.

"He's part of the Resistance," replied Jimmy, pulling out what looked to be a radio, "I think F.A.I.R. might have found us."

He quickly called both call signs on the radio. Francis picked up without problem, but Sanjay's was met by a nasally voice that was most certainly _not_ Sanjay.

"_Wendell Bender?"_

"Bender…you're Dr. Bender!"

"_Correction – I'm his son, and we have your friend," _Wendell sneered, _"Here's our ultimatum – I'll let Mr. Bradley go, if the leader of the Resistance takes his place. May I speak to your leader?"_

"You're talking to him," snapped Jimmy, "And we're gonna come over there and get Sanjay back."

"_With what?_" demanded Wendell.

"Oh, you'd be surprised 'with what,'" snapped Jimmy, determinedly.

He hung up the radio.

"We're gonna rescue Sanjay," he told Veronica, "You coming?"

Veronica seemed to deliberate for a second.

"I'll meet you at the F.A.I.R. HQ," she said at last, "I'm gonna bring backup."

Jimmy nodded, and began to run back to the Hovercraft.

* * *

The Director sat back in the command seat of the M1A2 Abrams tank. The armoured slab was rolling uphill towards what he supposed was the Cave.

"Sir, we probably won't be able to manoeuvre the tanks in the cave network," the driver informed.

"Got it," replied the Director, "We'll send the infantry. They're trained – they can handle it."

"Hoo-ah," nodded the radioman, and he opened up his radio channel.

"This is Gold Eagle to all units, infantry dismount, we shall proceed on foot, over."

* * *

"Here's the situation – they've got Sanjay, and they killed Chad."

Jimmy stood before the rest of the Resistance, gathered in his backyard. By now, the only resident of Dimmsdale still among them was Francis.

"This is the last straw, guys," snapped Jimmy, "We're going in."

"With what, Nerdtron?" demanded Cindy, "F.A.I.R. has guns, what do we have?"

"I have a lab," replied Jimmy, "Guys, pick what you want – we're shutting F.A.I.R. down."

* * *

"Black Ops," snarled Gavin, looking down his scope, "Of course they'd send Black Ops. Those guys know all the tricks of this kind of war…"

"…except morals," growled Morrissey, "What do we do, Mark?"

"Max and James are preparing the main defence in the caves," replied Gavin, "We're providing overwatch, and Rourke's watching for vehicles with the Stinger."

"Got it," nodded Morrissey, attaching a scope to his rifle, "I hope we can handle this."

"We can," nodded Gavin, "We're Marines."

* * *

Deep in the caves, most of the kids and fairies had gathered behind a makeshift barricade of rocks. Jazz, Norm, Baker and Bishop had also gathered behind the blockade.

"Alright, Ms. Fenton, you mentioned tanks?" mused Bishop, "What did they look like?"

"They were sort of…slabby," replied Jazz, shrugging, "I wasn't really looking."

"Abrams," nodded Baker, "No way they'll fit in here. We're dealing with infantry."

"Fairies ready?" asked Bishop.

"Just give us the word," replied the lead fairy.

Molly's fairy godparent was named Swizzle, much the amusement of Chester and Norm. She was a good sort, but like her godchild disliked physical contact.

"Nice," nodded Norm, "You do realise you have about a handful of fairies next to everything the US Government has. I mean, _that_ would scare me."

"You got a better idea?" snarled Bishop.

"Maybe," replied Norm, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a lamp.

Jazz's eyes widened.

"Norm, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, right?" she demanded.

"Maybe I am, maybe I am," grinned Norm, "I've always wanted to try this."

He rubbed the lamp.

With a poof and a swirl of colour, Sarah Cummings emerged from her tiny prison. She did not look pleased.

"_You!_" she snapped.

"Yeah, I know, I'm awesome," nodded Norm, "Guess what! I rubbed your lamp, that means I'm your master!"

"You can't be," mused Bishop, "You're a genie too."

"Yeah, but I'm the genie that rubbed the genie's lamp," replied Norm, "It doesn't matter who rubs it, Colonel Hogan."

Bishop scowled.

"Now, first wish," grinned Norm, "I wish you can't twist my wishes in any way."

Sarah scowled heavily, and granted it.

"Wish two," continued Norm, "I wish you would help us defend this Cave until the attack is done."

"Fine," sighed Sarah, "Third wish?"

"Third wish," nodded Norm, "I want a corn dog – this is gonna take a while and I'm hungry."

"Can I have one?" asked Chester.

"No."

Sarah poofed up the corn dog before taking up position at the defences, looking like Norm had just stolen Christmas.

Soon, the sounds of footsteps filled the air, as well as the clanking of carried weapons. Bishop readied his rifle.

"OK, those who can fight, get ready," he snarled, "Those who can't, attend the wounded."

Chester and Molly prepared rocks to throw, as did several other godchildren. Meanwhile, the fairies prepared their wands.

A squad of black-clad soldiers rounded the bend.

"I can see 'em, weapons free!"

* * *

The F.A.I.R. headquarters was rather well defended with Strykers and Humvees. These drove menacingly around the perimeter of a giant 'DO NOT ENTER' sign.

The Hovercraft flew right over them.

"I don't think they saw us," grinned Cindy.

A siren began to blare across the site.

"And now they have," nodded Sheen.

He pulled out a small device, aiming it at the vehicles below. A yellow beam shot out of it at a Humvee, converting it into cheese.

"I finally get to use the Cheese Ray!" beamed Sheen.

From the other side, Cindy was using another ray, this one the Freeze Ray, on some Strykers trying to fire up at the hovercraft (and failing). This continued until Jimmy managed to land the hovercraft on the roof.

"OK, Carl, Cindy, you guys stay here and defend the Hovercraft," ordered Jimmy, "Sheen, Libby, Francis, you come with me."

* * *

"Suppressive fire!"

Bishop and Baker fired over the barricade as the godchildren threw their rocks at the Black Ops. The rocks were magically enhanced – they burst on impact.

At the same time, Norm, Sarah and the fairies fired an unknown type of magic into the enemy, making heavy contact with enemy soldiers and blasting them off their feet.

"I'm reloading, gimme cover!" snapped Bishop.

Baker and Chester moved to cover him as Bishop ducked to reload his gun.

"Tell ya what," yelled Baker. "Despite all this shit, it still feels good to be gettin' some action!"

There was a bang, followed by a splat, and Baker fell back, his forehead hit.

"Baker!" yelled Bishop, coming up from reloading.

"He's gone, keep firing!" shouted Molly.

Bishop shook his head – it seemed the Cave had hardened all of its members, as few people had spared a glance at their fallen comrades.

Norm fired a blast at an enemy soldier.

"That's what you get for forcing me to do all this!" he snapped.

He heard another shot, and turned around. Tootie had been hit, and was on the ground, her shoulder pierced.

"Aw smoof, here comes the conscience again," he sighed, dragging her to Jazz.

"Tootie," called Jazz, "You're gonna be alright, OK, we're just gonna bandage that arm…"

_

* * *

It was an odd feeling, really._

_Tootie Delisle had pined after Timmy Turner for most of her elementary school life. She had been devastated when he went for Danielle Fenton, but after two years in the Cave, she had learnt to accept his decision._

_Now, she felt a strange slipping sensation, and was standing in some form of green void – part of that 'Ghost Zone' Danny Fenton had mentioned, she guessed._

_In this void, she found a small group of people. Remy Buxaplenty, Tad Strong, Trixie Tang, Elmer Boyle, Chad Grey and Sergeant James Baker stood not far away from her, almost beckoning in pose._

_This was, she realized, the Ghost Zone, and the feeling of slipping was probably dying. Odd – it wasn't as painful as one would expect._

_However, every now and then, the slipping would turn to a tugging, as if part of her was trying to get back to Earth._

_It was time to choose, she supposed._

_It wasn't like she'd never see Timmy again, she decided. This was the Ghost Zone – the other side of the veil. Eventually, Timmy would come, and so would Dani. Regardless of what happened there, Tootie would wait. _

_Those in the Cave, after all, had nothing to lose._

_Tootie decided to slip._

* * *

Jazz's face fell.

"She's gone," she sighed, a small tear dropping from her eye.

Bishop gave her a sympathetic glance, but continued to fire on the never ending ranks of the Black Ops.

"How many guys do they have?" he demanded.

"A lot," shrugged Norm, "Maybe you should…"

BOOM.

The tunnels behind the Black Ops exploded and the tunnel caved in behind. As this happened, Bishop's radio opened.

"_Whoever's in charge here, meet us at the Eastern entrance. We have some Blackhawks inbound for extract."_

"Who the heck is this?" snapped Bishop.

"_Colonel R. Atkinson, my good man, I'm here to take you to Dimmsdale. Timmy Turner comes back today."_

Jazz looked solemnly at Tootie's body.

"If she'd just hung on a little longer," she whimpered.

Norm put his hand on her shoulder.

"These things happen," he reassured, "It isn't your fault."

"I know," nodded Jazz, wiping her eyes, "Let's go."

Norm turned to Sarah and grinned.

"Lamp time," he grinned.

Sarah crossed her arms and returned to her lamp.


	10. Chapter 9: Upper Hand

Another chapter up, and this one's a biggie! It's hard to write stories with a truckload of characters, mind you, because it's hard to keep track of them all.

Review replies!;

**Clockwork Orange King:** Wait and see, my friend, wait and see. And the Cave is the name of the godchildren, because right now they live in a acve (not related to the Cave of Prophecy)

**unknown20troper:** Glad you like it. Pretty sure Norm would love having someone to control, wouldn't he? :D

**OddAuthor:** Timmy's in for a nasty shock when he gets back, isn't he. I got very sad when I wrote that scene. Thanks for reviewing!

**

* * *

Chapter Nine: Upper Hand**

A squadron of four transport helicopters lifted up from the mountains around the flattened town of Carnot, heading in the direction of Dimmsdale.

"So, where's Baker?" asked Gavin.

"He isn't coming," replied Bishop, sadly.

There was a long silence.

"Damn," sighed Gavin.

"I always though he'd survive," added Morrissey.

"Well, that's unfortunate," shrugged Rourke.

Bishop shot the jaded sergeant a glare, but said nothing.

"He was a good man," he said, "We won't forget him."

"Gentlemen."

Sabre Team turned. The leader of the troops who had picked them up, Colonel Atkinson, was addressing them.

"When we get on the ground at Dimmsdale," he ordered, "I want you to be on alert at all times. The President is heading to town with the intention of making a speech, and I don't want his bodyguards making this difficult."

"Fulton's there?" demanded Rourke, "Why don't we just get him now?"

"I know he ordered the attack that killed Sergeant Baker," nodded Atkinson, "But to kill him serves nothing. The man you want vengeance against is the former Director of M.E.R.F., currently sitting in a tank in Carnot kicking himself. Intel suggests that he is also heading west, out into the Pacific for the final test and activation of Project Oppenheimer."

"What is Project Oppenheimer?" asked Bishop.

Atkinson glanced around.

"It's a super-bomb," replied Atkinson, "They're going to use it to destroy the Big Wand. Once they do that, it's just a question of rounding the fairies up."

The occupants of the helicopter glanced nervously between themselves.

* * *

Jimmy had hoped to break into F.A.I.R. a bit more quietly, but this worked too.

He, Sheen, Libby and Francis ran through the corridors, pushing through confused and unarmed personnel as klaxons wailed.

"When are we gonna reach the actual guards?" asked Libby.

"They're probably guarding Sanjay," shrugged Jimmy, "We won't be able to go straight in the front, we're gonna have to use the vents."

He pulled a tracking device from his pocket.

"Alright, there's a vent opening just up the hallway, we can crawl through that," he stated.

"Overly large air vents," sighed Sheen, "The shortcoming of every villain lair."

* * *

"Can't you drive faster?" demanded Sam, "It's already been twenty-two hours!"

"The Spectre Speeder does Mach 1 and flies," replied Danny, "We're gonna get there in time, don't worry."

"Well, it didn't help that we had to double back and pick this guy up," snapped Vicky.

"Hey!" protested Tucker, sitting in the back of the Speeder, "I actually _went_ to Anti-Fairy World!"

"So did we," shot Sam.

"Yeah, but I went there first," grinned Tucker.

"Do I really want to know what they're talking about?" asked Valerie.

"No, not really," shrugged AJ.

* * *

Veronica arrived at the F.A.I.R. HQ, which was now under lockdown. Behind her, Cosmo and Wanda were disguised as normal children, with Poof in Wanda's arms. They hid behind a nearby dumpster to plan their move.

"You know what's at stake here, right?" warned Wanda, "It's just the four of us until we find Jimmy."

"Yeah, we'd last as long as a snowball in he-"

"Cosmo! Poof is listening!" snapped Wanda.

"Sorry," nodded Cosmo, sheepishly.

"Trust me," mused Veronica, "I have a plan…"

* * *

Deep in the Ghost Zone, Skulker and Technus were arguing amongst themselves.

"There is _no way_ I am getting the Panorama OS for my suit!" snapped Skulker, "You _know_ that's defective!"

"But it's the best OS for operating combat suits in the Ghost Zone!" exclaimed Technus, "I mean I, Technus, Master of all Technology, always use Panorama when…"

"Are you done with the nerd rage yet?"

Skulker and Technus turned, confused. Ember was standing nearby, her arms crossed and an uninterested but slightly amused look on her face.

"We're not finished nerd raging!" shouted Technus, "This is a matter or pride!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it," nodded Ember, dismissively, "I've got word from Clockwork."

The two other ghost's eyes widened.

"Clockwork?" gasped Skulker, "By the Ghost Zone, what did he say?"

"He wants us to go to Dimmsdale," replied Ember, "Something about the Bringer of Light."

"Bringer of Light?" demanded Technus, "Why'd he call _us_ then?"

"Beats the ectoplasm out of me," shrugged Ember, "Oh, and we've gotta take this midget with us – she's supposed to be important."

She pointed to a little girl, seemingly a new ghost judging by the awed expression. Her skin had a slight green tinge, and her hair was white, but other then that, the form was similar to her form as a human.

"OK," sighed Skulker, in a bored tone, "What is your name, youngling?"

"Tootie," came the reply, "Tootie Delisle."

* * *

Jimmy pushed the vent cover from its position and jumped into the corridor below. Almost immediately, some security guards opened up, and Jimmy had to duck behind a crate.

Whipping out the weapon he knew as a Tornado Blaster, Jimmy fired at the guards, knocking them back with the large wind blast. The suppression from this allowed the other three to jump from the vents unharmed.

"OK, we need to get to the end of this hallway," informed Jimmy, "Sanjay's being held in there, come on!"

Libby and Sheen pulled out the weapon know as the 'Stun Beam' and the venerable Cheese Ray respectively, firing at the guards at the end of the hallway. Most were knocked out or 'cheesed' by this, and those who were left were disoriented enough to be introduced to Francis' fists.

Once this was done, Francis kicked open the door to the Interrogation Room and the four piled inside.

Dr. Bender and Wendell had Sanjay tied to a table, Bender holding one of those levers used to pull out teeth. Both turned in surprise as the Resistance entered.

"Where'd you come from?" demanded Bender, "You're supposed to be dead!"

"We weren't all at Chad's place, Bender," snapped Jimmy, "Or didn't Wendell tell you that?"

Wendell looked sheepishly at the roof.

"Wendell!" snapped Bender, "Did you know that their leader was still alive?"

"Maybe," whimpered Wendell.

"Jimmy!" grinned Sanjay, "I haven't told them anything – I'm a good resistance member!"

"You'll be a dead one soon," growled Bender, "Wendell, activate the combat suit!"

Wendell grinned as he pushed a button on his wrist. The form of the XM33 Battle Suit wrapped around him, weapons adjourning almost every part. Guards gathered in the room as he did so, aiming their guns at Jimmy and his friends.

"Any last words?" taunted Wendell.

Jimmy glanced out the window, and grinned.

"Just this," he smiled, "You might wanna duck."

The window shattered, and the wall it was attached to was blown off.

A wave of fairies flowed into the room, firing magic beams at the guards, blowing them off their feet and essentially causing a complete ruckus. Cosmo, Wanda and Poof flew to Jimmy, the older two aiming their wands at Wendell and Bender.

Then came the blasting of rockets, and just outside the hole in the wall, the Spectre Speeder landed. This was followed by a flight of helicopters.

Now, Dr. Bender found himself surrounded by the Resistance, the Cave, Danny and company, Sabre Team, some German soldiers and the fairies. Needless to say, he no longer felt too confident.

"Err…parley?" whimpered Wendell.

"Dr. Bender."

Veronica stepped forward from the considerable number of people in the room. In her arms was a sheet of paper.

"I'm about to save the world," she smirked, placing the sheet on the table. On close inspection, it looked like a treaty of some form. Cupid, Juandissimo and Wanda took position behind her.

"What is she doing?" asked Bishop.

"I'd tell you if I had any idea," shrugged Norm.

"As God of Love," announced Cupid, signing the paper, "I approve these new Rules."

"New Rules?" demanded Molly, "What the heck does that have to do with anything?"

"New Rules means no more out of control magic," replied Swizzle, "But…who's the Holder?"

"As the supremely sexy juror of Fairy World," grinned Juandissimo, his shirt ripping inexplicitly, "I approve these new Rules."

He signed the paper, and Wanda took his place.

"As an ordinary fairy," she said, "I approve these new Rules."

There was a long silence.

"Let me guess," grinned Bender, "You don't have a new Holder, do you?"

"How do you know this stuff?" snapped Wanda.

"Oh, the President has a contact," nodded Bender, "Anyway, without a Holder, you can't…"

"As drafter of these Rules, with the promise to uphold these Rules selflessly and unbiased, I accept the position of Holder – I accept these new Rules."

Veronica signed the paper.

Her eyes changed shade from blue to yellow, to match her hair. A pair of wings emerged from her back, and a large (although not quite to the scale that Jorgen's had been) appeared in her hands.

Chester's eyes widened.

"_Her?_" he gasped.

Veronica turned to the gathered, and spoke.

"Da Rules have been rewritten!" she called, as a new, much smaller purple book appeared in her hands, "The code to secrecy is gone – all other major rules are reinstated. Now, if everyone doesn't mind…"

She grinned.

"Timmy Turner. His old house. Half-an-hour."

* * *

Mr. and Mrs. Turner had moved on, for the most part. They had rebuilt their house, ignored the presence of F.A.I.R., and quite simply tried to live as they had before.

They had obviously failed, as when Cosmo and Wanda had (reluctantly) turned up at their door and informed them that Timmy would return in their backyard, they were overjoyed.

Now, all involved stood in the backyard, Vicky scanning the ranks of the Cave.

"Where's the twerpette?" she demanded.

"Yeah," nodded Chester, solemnly, "About that…"

"_Skulker?"_

Danny was staring, dumbfounded, at the latest of the many people expecting Timmy.

"Nice to see you noticed us too, dipstick," sighed Ember.

"What?" demanded Vicky, "Who…"

Her voice left her.

Standing next to the uninvited ghosts was her little sister. Her form was glowing, her skin was green-tinted and her hair was white.

"Hello Vicky," greeted Tootie, somewhat bitterly.

"T-t-twerpette?" she stuttered, "You're d-d-…"

She collapsed to the ground, barely registering Danny begin a shouting match with the ghosts (for turning up) and Chester (for not telling them that Tootie had died earlier).

She did register one thing, though, as did everyone.

A light was gathering at the base of the tree.

* * *

All things come to an end, to be replaced anew with a beginning.

Timmy Turner felt the brightness of the light overtake him, and clutched Dani's hand harder. He didn't know what kind of world he was returning to.

For the past two years, he and Dani had been training. He had been learning to use the powers of the Light in full, whilst Dani had been improving her own ghost powers. Curiously, while Timmy had aged, Dani had not, making them both twelve when they left the realm they had trained in.

Frostbite, the ghost who had instructed them under Clockwork's orders, had simply said that Clockwork intended that to happen, and that Dani would age normally once they returned to Earth. It seemed fair enough.

But now, they were coming home. Timmy felt the grass underneath him change, from the natural, overgrowth grass of the training realm to a cleanly-cut lawn. The sunlight also changed a little, representing the slight tinge of pollution in urban Dimmsdale.

The light dissipated. For a moment, neither Timmy nor Dani noticed the rather large crowd gathered to see them back. Timmy simply glanced at the new Turner house, which had been built exactly like the old one. It was a true sight for sore eyes.

He was home.


	11. Chapter 10: Two Missions, One Goal

In which I shall wham you.

Review replies;

**unknown20troper: **Skulker and Technus are awesome, aren't they? I'm glad you liked the Veronica twist!

**OddAuthor:** Timmy is back, let us dance! :D Thanks for reviewing!

**

* * *

Chapter Ten: Two Missions, One Goal**

Dimmsdale Domestic Airport was closed off as Air Force One landed on the main runway. Aboard the giant aircraft, the President was looking nervously out the window.

"Is there a problem, sir?" asked Doombringer.

"This is a resistance hive," replied Fulton, "Anything could happen, anything."

"Most of Congress is in Portland signing that environmental treaty with the Russians," shrugged Doombringer, "They can't hit us all."

"I happen to value my life, Arlene," shot the President, "But I guess you're right – unless something took out the whole west coast…"

"You're being paranoid, Mister President."

"Maybe."

* * *

It had been a heartfelt reunion, but it had been quickly cut short by Atkinson, who had gathered all those he deemed appropriate in the Turner's lounge room and begun to discuss what would happen next. Between him, Danny, Bishop, Jimmy, Cosmo, Wanda and Veronica, Timmy and Dani had been briefed on the world he had returned to.

"So what did the prophecy you got say?" Timmy asked Danny.

"Well," mused the ghost boy, "It said something about Landships rolling on the Cave…"

"Done," nodded Bishop, "Those would be the Director's tanks."

"…the fair will fall down on the brave…"

"Already done, F.A.I.R. tried to crack down on us," nodded Jimmy.

"What happened to the Benders, anyway?" asked Timmy.

"They…won't be back for a while."

Deep in the F.A.I.R. HQ's prison cells, Dr. Bender rattled a cup on the bars of his cell as Wendell played a harmonica.

Danny continued to relate the prophecy.

"The light will return to match the dark – that's you – and the world will bow down to the ark…but what is the ark?"

"Turn on the news and you might find out," replied Atkinson, pointing to the television set.

Jimmy did so.

"…_with the President intending to speak tonight,"_ Chet Ubetcha was reporting, _"In other news, a US carrier group has moved into the Pacific Ocean to test a United-Nations approved 'peacekeeping weapon'. The weapon, currently aboard the new supercarrier USS Ark, is supported by vessels of the US, Chinese and Russian Navies, and was called 'a shining example of international collaboration' by Russian President Yakov Kirill. I'm Chet Ubetcha saying…"_

Jimmy turned off the TV.

"USS _Ark_," he breathed, "There is something seriously wrong with that."

* * *

If you looked over the fence into the Turner's backyard (as their neighbours were doing), you would find it rather crowded. The suggestion that the Turners might be having a barbeque was easily shot down by the fact that many of them wore military uniforms or looked like they'd been through a meat grinder.

Vicky was sitting at the base of the tree, her head still spinning. Her sister was dead, and yet…there she was.

She was now resolved to do two things. One was to beat Chester McBadbat within an inch of his life for not telling her that Tootie was dead, and the other was to ask Danny how ghosts worked.

Tootie walked – nay, floated – up to her sister.

"So, Vicky," she asked, "How does it feel to have a dead little sister?"

"Don't do that, twerpette," snapped Vicky, "You're right in front of me, of course you're still alive."

"If I was still alive," demanded Tootie, "Would I be able to do this?"

She phased her hand through Vicky's face, catching the older Delisle by surprise.

"Hey!" she snapped, "Don't do that!"

"I can do that as much as I want," growled Tootie, "You're not the boss of me anymore. I don't even have to talk to you if I don't want to!"

"Fine!" shouted Vicky, "Don't talk!"

Tootie floated away from Vicky's hard glare. This glare softened when she found herself alone again.

"See if I care," she said, softly.

* * *

"USS _Ark_," explained Atkinson, "Is two times larger then any other ship of its kind in the world. It can carry a compliment of 180 aircraft – twice that of the USS _Nimitz._ At current, it uses AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18 Hornets to defend itself, not counting aircraft from other carriers in the group, which means there is no way we can get in by helicopter."

"We can use the Spectre Speeder," suggested Danny, "It can outpace a fighter."

"It can?" asked Jimmy, gaping, "I _really_ wanna talk to your parents; that's genius!"

"Yes, very good," nodded Atkinson, "The _Ark _carries Project Oppenheimer, but it also carries what Showsenhower has been calling a 'defensive mechanism' which he got from the Ghost Zone."

"Something from the Ghost Zone and a giant bomb?" mused Wanda, "That does _not_ mix."

"How's Freakshow doing all this, anyway?" demanded Veronica, "How do they know so much about ghosts and fairies?"

"He's a ghost expert," replied Danny, "Fairies…that's fishy."

"Where is Freakshow?' asked Dani, "We're gonna need to bring him down as well…"

"Showsenhower has moved to Washington," replied Atkinson, "To be precise, he's the only politician still on the Eastern Seaboard – all others are here or at the Portland Treaty."

"So he's planning something," nodded Dani, "I guess we're going to Washington, then."

"…and the Ark," added Bishop, "At the same time. We'll need to split up."

"I'll take the Ark," suggested Danny, "Timmy and Dani can take on Freakshow."

"You're not going alone," snapped Bishop, "We're coming with you."

"Not possible," shot Atkinson, "We'll need Sabre Team in DC."

"Well, at least take Morrissey," nodded Bishop, "He's a good shot, he can help you out."

"Right," said Veronica, "I'll take the fairies to the Big Wand. We'll make sure the government doesn't try to break it."

"We're going with Timmy," stated Wanda.

"Yay! We're going to Washington!" cheered Cosmo.

"We can only send small teams each, you understand," informed Atkinson, "Mr. Neutron, may we use your lab to as a staging area?"

"You can use by backyard," snapped Jimmy, "The lab is off limits."

"Fair enough."

"Alright guys," nodded Timmy, "We've got two missions, one goal – we're brining down Fulton."

* * *

"So…" mused Sam, having been forced into conversation with Valerie by Tucker, "How are…things?"

"They're good," replied Valerie, "Dad got promoted, and now we're living in an actual house…but it wasn't the same without Danny."

"Yeah," growled Sam, "Of course."

"Ooh, I smell competition!"

Sheen had walked in on the two girls, grinning.

"So, you want Danny, and you want Danny…"

"…and that Vicky girl sure as heck wants him," noted Valerie, glancing over to Vicky.

"I do not _want_ Danny," snapped Sam, "We're just…just friends."

"Of course you are," said Sheen, dismissively, "OK, people, take your bets, we got cont…"

Vicky glared at Sheen as she passed. He shut up very quickly.

"So, you're Danny's ex, right?" she snapped.

"I might be," nodded Valerie, smirking, "Problem?"

"Oh, no problem," nodded Vicky, "I'm just checking out t…"

"COMPETITION!"

"SHUT! UP! _SHEEN!_" yelled Sam.

"Right, the non-competition," nodded Valerie, knowingly, "I get ya."

"People…uh…can I have your attention?"

Everybody turned to the back door. Timmy was standing, somewhat nervously, waiting to speak.

"Um…OK, we're splitting up," he said, "Most of us will be going to Jimmy's place until we're done. That's not because we don't think you're good enough to help, it's just…we can't have too many guys."

There was some indignant mumbling, but for the most part, all attention was on Timmy.

"OK," he began, "Me and Dani will be leading some of us to Washington to get Freakshow. We're bringing Sabre Team, Jimmy, Molly, Valerie, Jazz and Norm."

"Hoo-rah!" Gavin cheered.

"Another group will go board the USS _Ark _and destroy Project Oppenheimer," continued Timmy, "That'll be Danny, Morrissey, AJ, Sam and Vicky. You'll take the Spectre Speeder."

"Hey, what about us?" demanded Ember.

"Uh…I didn't think you particularly _wanted_ to help," mused Timmy.

"Clockwork demands, we obey," shrugged Skulker.

"What do you want Technus, Master of all things electronic and beeping, to do?" demanded Technus.

"OK, you three can come with me," nodded Timmy, "We'll need as small a team as possible for the _Ark_ – light and fast, if you get what I mean."

He cleared his throat.

"Right, uh, I'm not really good at speeches, but by tonight, we're gonna bring down Fulton, we're gonna bring down Doombringer and Freakshow and we're gonna bring down this oppression of fairies and godchildren."

His face became determined in expression.

"We're gonna save the world – the _whole_ world – without their help. We're gonna save it the right way."

He was met with cheers.

* * *

Freakshow sat in his office at the White House, grinning.

"Ah, it feels so good to have some peace from all those politicians," he sighed, putting his feet up, "No-one nosing in to read up on my full plans, isn't that right…"

He paused dramatically, turning to the other man in the room.

"…Jorgen."

"That is right," replied Jorgen, nodding, "No-one nosing in on us, and our brilliant plans!"

"You've been a gold mine, Von Strangle," nodded Freakshow, "You and I will go far in the Fulton administration…very far indeed."


	12. Chapter 11: Anticipation

WARNING: Something quite violent happens at the end of this chapter. Read with discretion.

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**Solaris Knight 30:** Is that a good review or a bad review? Anyway, I never considered Jorgen so much evil as overzealous, really. Thanks for reviewing!

**TweenisodeOrange: **I'm glad somebody noticed him! Thanks for your review!

**OddAuthor:** I was hoping no-one would see that coming! Thanks for reading!

**unknown20troper:** Glad you liked it, thank you for reviewing!

**

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Anticipation**

It was around noon on an already long day when the large CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter landed on the flight deck of the massive USS _Ark_. The Director stepped out, met by two naval officers who snapped to attention.

"Sir," the first said, "I trust you had a good flight?"

"No," snarled the Director, "I've had a crap day so far, Admiral Green, don't make it worse for me."

"Of course, sir," nodded Admiral Green, "I trust you're the liaison from Mister Showsenhower, right?"

"That is correct, admiral."

"Then we can begin!"

The admiral and Director headed for the lower decks, leaving the other officer behind. Heading down the steps, they arrived in a large hold, where a truly massive piece of machinery had been berthed.

"Project Oppenheimer, you impress even me," grinned the Director.

"We've set the trajectory path," nodded Green, "Outbound is mapped here."

He showed the Director a map of the world. An outline was drawn, roughly making a box between Vladivostok in Russia, Seattle in America, Valparaiso in Chile and Newcastle in Australia.

"The energy redirect," observed the Director, "It'll sap the power from these four cities – they won't mind, their councils are in on it – and that will power the missile."

"You understand what could happen if anything goes wrong…"

"…of course I do," snapped the Director, "We've come too far to back down now. The chance of failure is .03%, only a deliberate sabotage could cause anything bad to happen. Speaking of which, are your guards up to scratch?"

"They're the Marine Corps," nodded Green, "They're far more then up to scratch."

"Good," said the Director, "Now, if you'll come with me, we're gonna activate our second project."

"The super-soldier one?" mused Green, "Should I supply a man?"

"No need," grinned the Director, pulling an item from his bag.

It was a large, metal thermos, heavily dented, some of the dents looking uncannily like they had been made by a person's hands and face…

* * *

It was now coming on two o'clock. They'd move at three, which gave Timmy and his allies an hour to prepare.

Most had now gone through to Retroville, but a few kids and fairies remained in Dimmsdale.

"Alright," mused Timmy, walking into his backyard, "We've got a mission for someone, if they want it. The President speaks at six o'clock, and we need someone in the crowd to make sure he doesn't drop any bombshells on us this time."

"I can do that," grinned Sanjay.

"Not you, you'll stick out to much," said Timmy, shaking his head, "Francis, you go."

"Whatever," sighed Francis, crossing his arms.

Timmy nodded, and headed back inside. He was just heading to the bathroom when he heard a familiar voice.

"Time Out."

Clockwork appeared before him on the stairwell from his portal. He looked concerned – and just a little sad.

"I've come to warn you, Timmy," he said.

"Yeah?" replied Timmy, "Is it about Freakshow?"

"It is," replied Clockwork, "I've lost something, Timmy. Freakshow stole it from my castle, and now it's in the Director's hands."

"So it's on the _Ark_," nodded Timmy, "Danny'll get it back for you, don't worry."

"I don't worry," reminded Clockwork, "I already know the outcome. I do need you to know two things – they must be coded, I'm afraid, the Observants would have my head if they knew I was helping you."

Timmy nodded.

"Number one already happened – I delivered my message on the wings of three dragons."

"Skulker, Technus and Ember, yeah," replied Timmy.

"Number two – one Delisle will die, the other will go to sea…"

"But that's already happening," mused Timmy, "Both of these have already happened, right?"

Clockwork shook his head.

"Not in the way intended," he replied.

Timmy could have sworn a small tear had fallen from his eye, but decided that couldn't be. This was the Master of Time, right?

"Everything is as it should be," uttered Clockwork, "Time In."

Clockwork vanished, leaving Timmy confused and slightly worried.

* * *

"What do you mean a bulk load?"

Jimmy and Colonel Atkinson were going over what Jimmy's hovercraft would be carrying to Washington. Atkinson had asked the strength of the Hovercraft and its carrying cables.

"I mean a bulk load," replied Atkinson, "You'll be taking something rather heavy."

"If we use the carrying stabilisers, sure," shrugged Jimmy, "We could carry a Battleship if you wanted."

"Very good," nodded Atkinson, "Roll her up."

Down the road from Timmy's house came the sound of a loud engine. Turning the corner – to Jimmy's utter surprise – was the giant, bulky shape…of a tank.

The tank rolled up beside the house, and its crew turned the engine off. Jimmy gaped. The tank commander climbed out of the turret.

"This is the FV4034 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank," he explained, proudly, "It weighs 62 and half tons, and its gun is two hundred millimetres of rifled overkill. Proudest achievement of Vickers Defence Systems!"

"I-it's a tank," wheezed Jimmy.

"That's what I said," nodded the commander.

"So, what're we doing with it?" asked Jimmy.

"It's the distraction," replied the commander, "While you lot run around the White House, we're making sure the army doesn't send – oh no, not you."

Timmy had just walked out of the house, and was now staring agape at the tank outside.

"Do I know you?" he asked at last.

"You're one of the ones that crashed my helicopter!" snapped the commander.

"Oh, you're that pilot guy," nodded Timmy, "Right. So, you nearly ready?"

"Nearly," said Jimmy, "We've just gotta attach the tank to the hovercraft."

"Right, see you later then," sighed Timmy, walking inside.

* * *

Timmy found himself alone. This was not good, as he really needed someone to talk to. Everyone, as it seemed, was busy.

Try as he might, he could not work out what Clockwork had meant. One Delisle had already died – that was Tootie – and the other was going to sea – Vicky was going to the _Ark._ Clockwork, however, had told him that this was not what he was talking about.

It was all very frustrating – and deep down, it worried Timmy. He did not want anyone else to die – and yet he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that the greatest disaster was still coming.

* * *

The Director grinned as he looked upon the Fenton Thermos on the table. Behind him, Admiral Green and a squad of heavily armed marines were waiting in anticipation.

"Hello, my friend," said the Director, "I guess you want out. I'll have you know that over this ship is a device – a device that controls ghosts. We'll have you under our control – the ultimate the soldier. Isn't that brilliant?"

His grin widened.

"Time to find out."

He opened the thermos.

A bright light flashed from the small, metal tube. By the time it had subsided, a large, muscular ghost in the garb of Danny Phantom was floating above them, a blank expression on his face.

"What is your bidding, Master?" he asked.

"Oh, simple stuff," shrugged the Director, "I need your help with something – namely, everybody on this list."

He handed him a long list, containing the names of every known godchild and fairy, and their possible locations.

"I want them dead, Mr…shall I call you Dan? Yeah, Dan," nodded the Director.

Dan looked at the list in his hand.

"There is something wrong with this list, Master."

"Oh?" mused the Director, "And what would that be?"

"Your name isn't on it."

Dan's blank expression suddenly turned to a horrid grin, and he fired a powerful ectoplasmic beam. The beam hit Admiral Green square in the chest, burning right through his torso and killing the naval man instantly.

The marines immediately opened fire, exhausting their whole clips on Dan, and opening many green holes in his body. The ghost fell back, his face showing shock.

Then he grinned again.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked.

He chuckled, and dived at the marines.

The Director watched in horror as, using mêlée attack alone, Dan tore the Marines to shreds. He tried to tune out the yelling, the screaming, that _horrible_ laughter, but he could only watch, as if his eyes were clipped open.

Within ten seconds, a blood-covered Dan turned to the government man, his eyes thirsty for more violence.

"What?" gasped the Director, "B-but…you should be under our control. T-the device…"

"I'm just that good," sneered Dan, "Now, tell me the code to access Project Oppenheimer."

"N-no!"

"Tell me…"

Dan grabbed the Director in a stranglehold, several feet above the ground.

"…or else," Dan finished, a mocking grin on his face.

Shakily, the Director told him the code.

"N-now, c-c-can you p-p-put me d-down?" he stammered.

"Oh yes," nodded Dan, "I can put you down."

He charged up a ball of burning ectoplasm in the hand that was grasping the Director's neck.

To him, the agonizing screams of the Director were better then gold.


	13. Chapter 12: The Calm Before The Storm

Shorter chapter today, but after this we get some action!

Review replies;

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Why thank you, that's very nice! :D I like to keep death's vague to A) keep the T-rating and B) let the reader imagine it, which is always far worse then anything I can write. *evil laughter* Incidentally, I must compliment your choice of name. Thanks for reviewing!

**unknown20troper:** I'm glad you liked it. Dan certainly is one of the most horrible villains in western animation - which makes him quite interesting to write.

**OddAuthor:** Yeah, Timmy isn't getting much of a break in this story, is he? Thanks for reading!

**Solaris Knight 30:** I was hoping no-one would see Dan coming - more shock value, you see. Thanks for reviewing!  
**

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Calm Before The Storm**

Freakshow was on the phone in his office.

"…no, Mr. Crocker…_Mr. Crocker…_listen, we're offering you a job, but you will need to come to Washington to accept it…yes, OK, I will see you on Thursday…OK, goodbye…_goodbye, Mr. Crocker._"

He slammed the phone on the receiver.

"I wouldn't call him if I didn't suspect the fellow," he sighed.

"Suspect him of what?" asked Jorgen.

"President Fulton believes he might be affiliated with Faewatch," replied Freakshow, "It's due to his past – he has fairies on record."

"Bah!" snorted Jorgen, "That puny Mr. Crocker would never work with Faewatch! He's a fairy hunter, remember?"

"Yes, but that's not enough for the Man of Steel," grimaced Fulton, wryly, "Any connections will land you on Oppenheimer until proved otherwise."

Freakshow put his feet up, and grinned.

"The joys of democracy, aren't they?"

Jorgen nodded, looking thoughtful.

* * *

The Hovercraft zoomed over the vast expanses of the inland plains and deserts of the United States. It looked more then a bit daft – a giant tank was swinging from heavy cables below it.

Norm gave a small grin, and spoke into the radio.

"How're you doing down there?" he asked, in a dry tone.

"_Can you slow down?"_ replied the tank commander, _"The gunner just threw up on the loader!"_

"Nope, we can't slow down, sorry," responded Norm.

"_But it's on the floor!_" snapped the tank commander, _"This place isn't well-ventilated, mate, it stinks to high heaven…ugh, and it's sloshing!"_

"You have fun with that," nodded Norm, rolling his eyes.

"_C'mon, this place is a small, confined box,"_ came the reply, _"We could without having to put up with this as well…_"

"Yep, never had _that_ problem before," sighed Norm, cutting off the transmission.

"That was a little cruel," mused Jazz.

"Honestly, I'd love to see that guy's face," grinned Rourke.

"Hey," shrugged Norm, "If I can live in a lamp for eternity, they can live in a tank for a few hours."

"Yeah, but you could at least give them a bit of sympathy," considered Jazz.

"I have no sympathy," deadpanned Norm, "I'm the id."

"Guess that makes you superego, huh?" grinned Valerie, looking to Jazz, "Who's the ego?"

"Cummings," shot Norm, "She can be ego when she stops being megalomaniacal."

At the front of the Hovercraft (which was, to be honest, very crowded right now), Timmy, Dani, Jimmy and Bishop were looking at a floor plan of the White House.

"OK," mused Timmy, "Freakshow's office is in the West Wing, as is the Oval Office. We need to get the Oppenheimer papers and we need to bring in Freakshow."

"We'll handle the President," snarled Bishop, "Going through his office will be a pleasure."

"Right, you can bring Valerie, Skulker and Technus," nodded Timmy, "Me, Jimmy, Dani, Ember and Molly will get Freakshow. Cosmo, Wanda, Swizzle, you guys will head for this room here – that's Doombringer's office – and see if there's anything interesting you can steal."

"Yes sir!" saluted Cosmo, as Wanda and Swizzle face-palmed.

"That leaves Jazz and Norm to the basement," finished Jimmy, "That's where they're keeping the plans for Operation Rushmore."

"Operation Rushmore?" quizzed Dani.

"Codename for the rounding up of kids and fairies," shrugged Bishop, "Project Oppenheimer's a part of it."

"Right," nodded Dani, "What about the tank?"

"It's gonna drive from the White House, to the Washington Monument, to the Capitol and then back," replied Jimmy, "That'll stop the police and army from paying us too much attention. Hopefully, they'll…"

Timmy switched off, looking at the land around them. They were now coming up on the Midwest, and the green farmland made a great change from the browns and yellows of the deserts and plains.

"Hey," grinned Dani, turning, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm just a bit anxious, is all," shrugged Timmy, "Clockwork's warning – it's just…"

Dani put her hand over Timmy's shoulders.

"Everything's gonna be fine, Timmy," she reassured, "We already passed the worst, it's only uphill from here."

If only she knew how wrong she was…

* * *

The Head of the CIA looked concerned as he made his way to the President.

Fulton, the Mayor and Doombringer were preparing to speak to their public at the Dimmsdale City Hall. The President was adjusting his tie nervously, and talking anxiously to Doombringer.

"It's gonna happen y'know, every time a controversial president makes a public appearance something happens, it happened to Lincoln, it happened to McKinley, it happened to JFK, it _nearly_ happened to FDR, damn it, why do I have to be…"

"Mr. President," the Head of the CIA said, "I have bad news."

"Is it worse then those 'Fulton is Hitler' tabloids?" asked Fulton, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, we did deem that mildly important," nodded the Head of the CIA, slightly sheepishly, "This isn't that – we've lost contact with the _Ark._"

The President glared.

"Probably a comms problem, keep trying," ordered the President, "I came here to speak, damn it I'm gonna speak…by the way, clear out all grassy knolls, I'm not going out like that, OK…"

The Head of the CIA nodded, and walked away.

* * *

The Spectre Speeder soared over the Pacific Ocean in the direction of the _Ark_ Battlegroup.

"We're nearly there," reported Vicky, "I can see the smoke from their chimneys…"

"Modern warships don't have chimneys," mused Morrissey, suspiciously, "Maybe it's the project making all that smoke."

"It looks like fire," observed AJ, "Maybe someone crashed?"

"Too much smoke," replied Danny, "I don't like this…"

The fleet appeared over the horizon, and all passengers paled.

The fleet had been ripped to pieces. Save for the heavily damaged _Ark_, every single vessel was on fire, sinking, or both. Wreckage cluttered the water, broken occasionally by destroyed aircraft. What was most striking, however, were the dead bodies littered over the decks and in the water – evidently, something utterly terrible had happened.

"Oh my god," gasped Morrissey, "I-i-is anyone alive down there?"

"I don't think so," replied Vicky, shaking.

"Wh-what kind of monster could do this?" shuddered Sam.

"I fell sick," stated AJ, shaking his head.

"I think the project failed," nodded Danny, "Should we…"

"Oh Danny…the project is juuuust fine…"

Danny's eyes widened. He looked like he was about to vomit as he stood up from the pilot's seat.

"N-not him," he stuttered, seemingly on the verge of tears, "A-an-anything but him!"

A form appeared in the Spectre Speeder. The muscular shape of Danny's future self grinned threateningly.

"I'm baaaaack," he uttered, his hands glowing green.

There was a short silence.

"Get 'em outta here!" shouted Morrissey, at last.

"N-no, you don't know what you're doing!" shouted Danny.

"GO!"

Danny stood for a second, before nodding. Grabbing Vicky and Sam (AJ grabbed onto the latter's hand), he phased out of the Speeder, leaving Morrissey and Dan alone.

"What do you intend to do?" demanded Dan.

"_Semper Fi!"_ thundered Morrissey.

He fired his rifle into Dan's torso, screaming as he did so.

* * *

Danny landed on the _Ark_, and then looked up at the Speeder.

With a flash of green light, it exploded. When the fireball had gone, Dan was standing in the sky, arms crossed and grinning.

Danny glared at him, before phasing his allies through the flight deck of the _Ark_, and into its catacombs.

…_and then there were four._


	14. Chapter 13: Breaking and Entering

And here we begin our climactic climax! But first, review replies;

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Ask, and you shall receive! Thanks for reviewing.

**unknown20troper:** I had fun writing the Norm scene - in fact, he's probably one of my favourite characters to write! Thanks for reviewing!

**OddAuthor:** Your right - Dark Danny (the GameBoy game called him Dan) is evil future Danny. Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Breaking and Entering**

It was still daylight in Washington DC, but the sun was setting quickly, a gold light settled of the monuments of the capital city of the United States.

The Hovercraft got into Washington surprisingly easily. Timmy knew their luck would soon change, of course – the army would hardly ignore a tank rolling around downtown DC – but at least they wouldn't be shot down by fighter planes.

With a crunch, they landed on the White House lawn, and got out. The tank was quickly detached from the Hovercraft.

"How long do we have until the Secret Service is on top of us?" asked Valerie.

"Freeze!"

"I'm guessing three seconds," deadpanned Norm.

The tank's turret rotated quickly, firing a succession of shots towards several Secret Service agents moving to apprehend. They were aimed to miss the mark – but be close enough to stun the agents, so that they did not register Timmy and company's run towards the White House.

Satisfied that its job was complete, the tank rolled away, providing the Secret Service with a distraction that would drag them across Washington and back.

Entering the White House, Timmy pulled out the map.

"OK, guys, you know the drill," he nodded, "Anything you have to say, say it now."

There was a short silence.

"Good."

The group quickly dispersed.

* * *

Sabre Team entered the Diplomatic Reception Room, looked around a bit, grinned at a rather confused looking politician…then held their rifles at him.

"Name and rank," asked Bishop, smirking.

"Uh…S-s-senator Cleaves," replied the Senator, "W-wh-why am I being held up by marines?"

"Senator, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us," grinned Bishop, "We're going to have a little talk…"

Two Secret Service agents broke through the door. Stifling yawns, Gavin and Rourke fired two shots at their legs. Both agents went down.

"Are we agreed."

"Y-yes, Lieutenant," shuddered Cleaves.

* * *

Danny, Sam, Vicky and AJ ran through the inner decks of the _Ark_.

"Alight, I _think_ the CPU for Project Oppenheimer is through here," mused AJ, "We'll have to get the code to shut it off manually from there…"

"You really think I'll let you do that, baldie?"

Dan phased through the roof of the corridor, a psychotic smirk on his face.

"Guys, keep going," snarled Danny, "I'll handle him."

"Not without me, you're not," snapped Sam.

"Yeah, you think I wanna be stuck with basketball head, here?" shot Vicky.

"Hey!" snapped AJ.

"Fine," nodded Danny, "Sam, you protect AJ. Vicky, you stay with me. I'll meet you at the CPU."

Sam gave a dark scowl, but nodded. She and AJ ran down the corridor.

"Oh, how cute," scoffed Dan, "I suppose you plan to stop me, Danny. That almost makes me feel…amused."

Vicky growled. Her eyes began to glow more vibrantly.

"Let's do this," she challenged.

"Gladly," grinned Dan.

He fired an ectoblast at Danny, knocking him a few metres back, before making a shield around him and Vicky.

"Wait…no!" shouted Danny.

"I'm sorry, Danny…I feel like a one-on-one," Dan sneered.

"Bring it," snapped Vicky.

* * *

Timmy, Dani, Jimmy, Molly and Ember headed towards Freakshow's office in the West Wing. The Secret Service were present, but in less numbers then expected – obviously, Freakshow had another defence in mind.

Ember blasted an agent with her guitar, looking irritated.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she snapped, "What's the point, anyway?"

"Saving the world," replied Timmy, "You got something against that?"

"I'm indifferent," sighed Ember.

"Riiight,' nodded Dani.

Presently they reached the door to Freakshow's office. Molly kicked it down.

"_TINY TIMMY TURNER!"_

A very angry Jorgen Von Strangle was in the well-decorated office, his staff-like wand glowing ominously.

"Err…hi," whimpered Jimmy.

"You have broken Da Rules! You have destroyed the very order of Fairies! You have made me look like an idiot!" shouted Jorgen, "That is unforgivable! You and me – we fight to the death!"

"Gladiator much?" sighed Molly, rolling her eyes.

"Jorgen?" snapped Timmy, "_You've_ been the one telling the government about us? But…you've been breaking your own rules!"

"GLADLY!" thundered Jorgen, "President Fulton has promised to return everything to they way it was before! He's collecting the fairies for me! He's fixing everything!"

"He's lying," growled Timmy, "Everything Fulton says is a lie."

"You are false!" snapped Jorgen, "We duel!"

"Five against one," Dani pointed out, "You're odds aren't good."

"Oh really?" grinned Jorgen, "F.A.I.R. ELITE! ASSEMBLE!"

Four very large men in masks and grey suits teleported into the room. They glowed slightly, and each of them had a staff.

"F.A.I.R. elite?" mused Jimmy, "You gave these guys magic…by technology?"

"That is correct," nodded Jorgen.

"But that doesn't work!" snapped Jimmy, "Veronica told me – only magic can recreate magic without destroying the mind…"

"Doombringer did what she had to do," snarled Jorgen, "Elites – attack!"

* * *

Sabre Team linked up with Valerie, Skulker and Technus at the door to the Oval Office. Valerie looked somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of the two ghosts, but at the same time determined.

"Did you make another distraction?" asked Valerie.

"Rourke hung a senator by the underpants from a flagpole," nodded Bishop, "That should hold up the Secret Service for a bit."

"Good," nodded Valerie.

"Gavin, take point," ordered Bishop.

"Hoo-rah."

Gavin kicked down the door, to find the Oval Office empty.

"Looks like we're lucky," mused Rourke.

"Until they find out we're here," warned Valerie, "They've got security cameras all over the place."

"Then we'll have to hurry," mused Skulker, "You! You have a grenade launcher?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Rourke.

"We'll cover the door until you're done," nodded Skulker.

"Don't blow up the White House," sighed Gavin, "We've already rebuilt it once."

"We won't wreck it much," moaned Skulker, sounding like a scolded child.

The two left the room.

"Technus, you get on the computer," ordered Bishop, "Gavin, Valerie, we're going through his desk."

* * *

Cosmo, Wanda and Swizzle made their way through the vents to Doombringer's office.

"Yay, we get to be commandoes!" grinned Cosmo, "In fact, I feel like Spiderman!"

"Cosmo, don't!" snapped Wanda.

"_Spidermaaaaan, Spidermaaaaan, does whatEVEEEER a SPIder caaaAAAN…"_

Wanda and Swizzle flinched from Cosmo's terrible singing.

"Cosmo, shut up!" ordered Swizzle, "We're supposed to be being quiet!"

"Oh, sorry," nodded Cosmo, "I'll stop."

The fairies went on in silence for a moment.

"Well, glad that's over…" sighed Swizzle.

"NanANAnANanaNANA BaatMAAAAaaaAAAAAN!"

"What did she tell you?" shouted Wanda.

"Allow me," interrupted Swizzle.

She punched Cosmo.

The fairies continued in silence, Cosmo looking confused and nursing a black eye.

* * *

Jazz and Norm slipped into the basement undetected and began to look around.

"Why is everything so dark?" mused Jazz.

"It's a secret basement," shrugged Norm, "It's supposed to look scary. This is probably where the government would keep Cthulhu."

"Thank you Norm," sighed Jazz, dryly.

They continued to walk until they reached a desk, with a small piece of paper lying on it. Next to the desk was a scientist – a dead one, with a pistol in his hand.

"Ouch," shuddered Norm.

"What?" considered Jazz, "That's gotta be suicide, but…why?"

Jazz picked up the scrawled note – what appeared to be a warning message.

_I regret wholeheartedly my involvement in Project Oppenheimer. I leave a warning to whoever finds this. We were misguided – do not repeat our mistakes. A dark age is quickly descending on humanity, and nothing can stop it._

_Project has been reset by unknown assailant on the _Ark. _We can only assume it was that mad Director's super-soldier. Its target is now the Pacific Ocean – and its coastlines._

Jazz dropped the note.

"What's wrong?" demanded Norm.

"They're gonna destroy the Pacific," replied Jazz, shaking, "All of it."

* * *

Vicky fired a small pink blast (she didn't know what was in it, but it seemed to work) at her opponent, who shrugged it off and lunged at her. Performing a quick dodge, she tried to trip up Dan, but failed.

Outside, Danny watched in increasing horror as Dan grabbed Vicky's leg, charging up his ectoplasm. Vicky howled in pain, but managed to swing around and bite Dan's arm.

Dan cursed loudly, but recovered in a very quick movement and grabbed Vicky's head. Simultaneously, he stamped his feet on Vicky's legs, pinning her down.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that one," snarled Dan.

He charged his ectoplasm again, this time to a brutal velocity. Vicky screamed.

"NO!" shouted Danny.

Dan grinned, as Vicky stopped screaming. He threw the girl to the ground and removed the shield, allowing Danny to get to her.

The back and sides of Vicky's head had been fried. She was dead.

"Guess that brings new meaning to 'short back-and-sides,' grinned Dan.

Danny turned to him.

"You monster," he snarled, "You-you monster."

"Thank you, I do try to impress," nodded Dan, bowing.

Danny shook with rage.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared.

"Oh, I know you won't," chuckled Dan, "You're too 'pure' to do that. Let me tell you Daniel, when I'm done here…you'll be begging for death."

He laughed evilly.

"Now…catch me if you can."

He flew through the roof again.

Danny gave a last, sorrowful look at his former M.E.R.F. partner – his friend – before running down the hall to the CPU.

He feared it was already too late.

…_and then there were three…_


	15. Chapter 14: Revelations

The climax continues!

Review replies;

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Thanks very much! Apologies for causing head explosions. XD

**OddAuthor:** Jorgen's not particularly smart, is he? Thanks for reviewing!

**unknown20troper:** Don't worry - Timmy's learnt some moves in the past two years. Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Revelations**

The President's desk was not the gold mine they had expected. There were a few scattered papers on F.A.I.R., but most of it was things on the economy, infrastructure and other documents on the day-to-day running of the USA.

"Damn it," snarled Gavin, "There's got to be something in here!"

He pulled open the bottom draw in annoyance.

A large file lay in it, the words 'PRINICPALS TO MULTIVERSAL TRAVEL AND IT'S EFFECTS ON F.A.I.R. DOCTRINE' written on it in large letters.

They stared for a moment.

"Well," mused Bishop, "That's good."

Valerie pulled the file from the desk, reading through it hurriedly.

"They're trying to build a doorway between universes," she mused, "They've got blueprints, plans, everything!"

"There's a manifesto, as well," scowled Gavin, "It says they're building one on a space station."

"Space station?" mused Bishop.

"Aha!" boomed Technus, looking over from the computer, "I, Technus, Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping, have discovered plans for the space station you are speaking of!"

Bishop looked at the screen.

"Cyclops," he read out, "They're calling it Cyclops."

"The one-eyed monster," mused Gavin, "That's gotta mean something."

"One eye," put in Valerie, "Sounds to me like they're going for an all-seeing eye here. Some sort of place to control the whole planet…"

"It's being constructed at Cape Canaveral," noted Technus, "Maybe we should go over there and rip it to shreds!"

"Please stop talking," sighed Gavin, "Your voice is giving me a headache."

"Stick to the task at hand," snapped Valerie, "We'll go after Cyclops later."

No more was said on the matter. It would have been better if there had.

* * *

President Fulton stood on the podium and began his speech.

"My fellow Americans," he began, "I understand that many of you do not believe that the future of our nations rests in the hands of F.A.I.R. and the removals. They are mistaken – F.A.I.R. means nothing but the preservation of our great country…"

"_LIES!_"

The President seemed taken aback, and turned to the crowd.

"…and you are?"

"I am Principal Geraldine Waxelplax," replied Waxelplax, standing up in the audience, "And you are a liar!"

"Excuse me, madam, but I believe you have been taken in by Faewatch's propaganda…"

"_I am Faewatch!"_ snapped Waxelplax.

There was a long silence.

"Well," said the President at last, "That's…um…unexpected."

* * *

Jorgen swung his massive staff-wand at Timmy, who just barely managed to duck in time. Glowering, Timmy opened his hand and thrust it at Jorgen's stomach. A beam of light shot out of it, hitting Jorgen in the stomach and winding him.

"Ouch! Turner," snapped Jorgen, "I must compliment on your mastery of the Light – but you are still not powerful enough to take on the toughest fairy in the universe!"

"We'll see," challenged Timmy.

Jorgen roared out a battle cry, and smashed his wand at Timmy's stomach, knocking him clean off his feet.

Timmy sat up, rubbing his head. Around him, Dani, Jimmy, Ember and Molly were holding their own against the elites – but not by enough to help him.

"Come on, Jorgen, open your eyes!" exclaimed Timmy, "You're being duped! The Government's playing you for a fool!"

"The only one who's played me for a fool is _you!_" shouted Jorgen.

"That isn't true!" shouted Timmy, "I did what I had to do!"

"And I did what _I _had to do," growled Jorgen, "When I'm finished here, you'll wish you'd never been born!"

"Been there, done that," deadpanned Timmy.

"SHUT UP!" boomed Jorgen.

He fired a burst of fire from his wand, which Timmy again barely managed to dodge.

* * *

The vent over Doombringer's office suddenly filled with a banging noise. The cover fell to the ground, having been dislodged by Cosmo's head.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" grinned Swizzle.

"Nah I'm good," said Cosmo, dizzily, floating onto the ground.

"So, what're we after?" mused Wanda, "She's got to have some information somewhere…"

"Is it that stuff on the blackboard?" asked Cosmo.

The other two fairies turned. Scrawled on the blackboard were diagrams.

"It's a map," pondered Swizzle, "But what's it of?"

"It's Bikini Atoll," replied Wanda, "We had a godchild who lived there back in the 1300s."

"Look, somebody played tic-tac-toe on it," grinned Cosmo, pointing to the map.

Across the map of the atoll were several crosses, each labelled with separate names – _Arkansas, Prinz Eugen, Nagato _and _New York_ to name a few. Around these crosses were several circles, all ascending from a small circle in the centre of the map to one that ringed the whole thing.

At the bottom of the blackboard, in large chalk letters, was a title – OPERATION CROSSROADS, BAKER TEST, JULY 1946.

"I think we should take this back to Jimmy," decided Wanda.

* * *

Danny bolted down the corridor, hoping to reach AJ and Sam before Dan did. Turning the corner, he reached the door to the CPU room – to find Sam holding an ectogun at Dan.

"Don't do it, Phantom!" snapped Danny.

Dan turned to his younger counterpart, and grinned.

"Ah, Danny, so glad you could join us, I was just about to redecorate the walls with my _red_ paint," he sneered.

"Leave her out of this!" snapped Danny, "I'm the one you want."

Dan sighed.

"Typical heroic reaction," he chuckled, "The thing is Danny, you're _not_ the one I want. You're just a little annoyance from my past you can do nothing to stop me."

"What do you want then?" demanded Sam.

"Well, what did I do with the Marine?" replied Dan, shrugging, "What did I do with the redhead?"

Sam turned to Danny. Her jaw dropped upon registering the look of anger and sorrow on his face.

"You killed Vicky?" she croaked.

"Yes, _I killed Vicky_, whoop-de-do to the world," mocked Dan, "She was little more then a speed bump on my grand plan…Sam, was it? I can't remember my past all that well."

Dan gave another chilling leer.

"Danny, you remember how we wanted to be an astronaut?"

"There is no 'we'," snarled Danny, "I am not you."

"Point's the same," shrugged Dan, "Just think of it – all that life, all of those trillions and trillions of races and beings…and nothing to stop me."

Danny's eyes widened.

"What?" he demanded.

Dan laughed.

"Oh, it's simple, _friend_," scoffed Dan, "When I'm done, all of this universe will be mine, and mine alone – starting from…ooh…fifteen minutes from now."

"You're not gonna destroy the Big Wand," growled Sam.

"Oh, I know I'm not," chuckled Dan, "I'm gonna destroy this ship. Of course, firing it backwards has the small downside of obliterating everyone who lives anywhere near the Pacific Ocean, but what can you do."

"The whole Pacific?" gasped Danny, "But…but why?"

"Why?" mused Dan.

He smirked.

"Because I can, Danny. Because I can."

Danny and Sam both gasped.

"You monster," said Sam, at last.

"Thank you," nodded Dan, "Good night."

There was a sudden blast of green light.

This was followed by a horrified yell from Danny.

Sam fell to the ground, her stomach bleeding. Danny ran to her, kneeling at her side.

"No, n-no, st-st-stay with me Sam, you-you're not gonna leave me," Danny began, stuttering his words.

"Danny," coughed Sam, "AJ…he has the code…gone ahead to…Project…get to him…"

"No, I'm not leaving you," snapped Danny, firmly.

"Oh please," sighed Dan, rolling his eyes.

"_Shut up!_" roared Danny, spit flying in Dan's direction.

"Wonderful," nodded Dan, "I'll see you at the next step."

He phased through the floor.

"Go," groaned Sam, "Get the code…get it…"

"I'm not leaving you, Sam, you're go-you're gonna be alright…"

"Go…Danny," Sam ordered, "There's no point…staying…here."

"Don't talk like that Sam, we're gonna get you out of here…"

"Go."

Danny paused for a few seconds.

"I'm coming b-back, Sam," he said at last, "You're gonna get home."

"Get…moving," said Sam, shaking her head, "I'll see you…in the Ghost…Zone or…wherever I go…"

"No, you can't s-say that!" snapped Danny, trying to hold back tears.

"Danny," said Sam, softly, "I…l…"

Her head fell back, and she became still.

"Wake up," demanded Danny, "Go on, wake up…_w-wake up…"_

He shook her vigorously, tears now flowing freely.

"_WAKE UP!"_

Sam did not respond.

Danny fell backwards, sitting against the wall and sobbing.

…_and then there were two.

* * *

_If I might ask, did I overdo the ending there?


	16. Chapter 15: Dark and Light

Well, we're nearing the end now. The next two chapters (including this one) will be quite epic...I hope.

Review Replies;

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Don't worry, I don't mind constructive critisism. You must remember, of course, that Timmy's had a year to train up his light powers, while Danny has spent at least some of that time in a GiW containment cell. Danny will get to be epic next chapter. :D. Thanks for reading!

**unknown20troper:** Thanks for reviewing! I suppose Dan can really be evil when he wants to be, which is all the time really!

**OddAuthor:** But wait! There's more! XD. Thanks very much!  
**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Light and Dark**

Jazz and Norm were still looking around the basement, but Jazz was still worried about Project Oppenheimer.

"Come on, you can't honestly say you're not concerned!" she snapped, as Norm went through a closet.

"Nope," shrugged Norm, "Not concerned."

"But if that thing goes off, it'll kill countless people," exclaimed Jazz, "I mean, Japan's in range, Beijing's in range, Sydney's in range…heck, _Dimmsdale _is in range!"

Norm seemed to blink a bit, but shook his head.

"Won't happen," replied Norm, "That Phantom kid's a freaking ghost!"

"That Phantom kid is my brother," snapped Jazz.

"True," nodded Norm, "Point is, we haven't lost yet, why start now, eh?"

"I suppose you're right," mused Jazz, "I'm just worried…"

"Sure, you do that, just help me go through this stuff while you worry," ordered Norm.

"Is there any reason you are going though my things?"

Jazz and Norm turned, confused.

"And…you are?" demanded Norm.

"Frederick Isak Showsenhower," Freakshow replied, "You may know me as Freakshow."

* * *

"…Ms. Waxelplax, you must understand that you're accusations have been totally unfounded…" began the President.

"Unfounded?" demanded Waxelplax, "You've been taking my students to your concentration camps."

"N-now, we wouldn't want to call them _that_," stammered the President, "Rest assured, we have been removing them to safe places for their own good…"

"What about Timmy Turner, then?" snapped Waxelplax, "You have a government bounty going on for him!"

"Now, now," replied the President, "I think we can all agree that Timmy Turner is a terrorist, no ifs or buts about it. Besides, it's most likely that he is dead…"

"Timmy Turner returned to Dimmsdale this morning!" shouted Waxelplax.

The President visibly paled.

"Not possible," he snarled, "He'd have to get past F.A.I.R."

"He did," grinned Waxelplax, "I was informed by a student of mine – Veronica Star."

"She was added to the most wanted list this morning, ma'am," snapped President Fulton, "Active collaboration with Turner – we had to add a lot of people to that list…"

"Then tell them, Mr. President," challenged Waxelplax, "Tell this crowd how your forces gunned down an innocent child and his family for 'collaboration.'"

The crowd turned to the President, expectantly.

"She's lying," growled Fulton, "Obviously she's collaborating with Turner, obviously…"

"Look at how he stammers," sneered Waxelplax, "Now, we're going to be here for a while, so make yourselves comfortable."

She brought a sandwich out of her hand.

"Tuna, Mr. President," she stated, "By the time I finish eating this, your plans will be in ruins."

Fulton began to sweat.

* * *

"OK, I think we've got everything," mused Bishop, "We're getting out of here."

"Rendezvous is the White House Lawn," nodded Valerie, "The tank should be coming back by now."

"…if it hasn't been knocked out," considered Gavin, grimly.

Quickly, they left the room, Technus making sure to place a virus in the computer first.

Outside, Skulker and Rourke were wrapping up a short fire-fight with a few F.A.I.R. agents.

"What took you so long?" snapped Rourke, "They've started bringing in Army Rangers to get us!"

"Army Rangers?" scoffed Bishop, "We're Force Recon, we can handle them!"

"What about the LAV?" asked Skulker, pointing out the window.

A large armoured car, identified as an LAV-25, was sitting outside the building, aiming its gun at the main door.

"I've got it," shrugged Rourke, "Anyone got rockets?"

"I got some in the suit," nodded Valerie.

"This thing practically _is_ rockets," boasted Skulker, pointing at his mechanical shell.

"Good," nodded Rourke, aiming his anti-tank rocket (a Stinger), "On my mark – MARK!"

Three rockets were fired out the window, crashing square into the frontal armour of the LAV. The vehicle exploded on impact.

"Yeah!" cheered Rourke.

He turned to Skulker.

"You owe me," he grinned, "You told me I couldn't make that hit."

* * *

"Freakshow," growled Jazz, "What're you doing here?"

"I work here, ma'am," shrugged Freakshow, "Turns out I have quite a thing for politics."

"Right, I'm sure those people you had F.A.I.R. arrest would just _love_ to vote for you," nodded Norm, wryly.

"It doesn't matter how they vote," grinned Freakshow, "It doesn't matter at all."

His smirk widened.

"Timmy Tiberius Turner," he considered, "Keep of the Light. The one who defeated the King of the Dark, except…he didn't."

"Come again?" mused Norm.

"Anti-Cosmo," chuckled Freakshow, "He never knew what he was doing, not really. He never had full control of the Dark. You see, you don't _choose_ the Dark, the Dark chooses you…like the Light."

"What are you trying to say?" demanded Jazz.

"Isn't it obvious?" laughed Freakshow, "The Crystal Ball Staff, the Reality Gauntlet, how do you think I found them, how do you think I even ever knew of them?"

He stopped laughing, and his face became serious.

"_I_ am the King of the Dark."

There was a long silence.

"What?" gasped Jazz.

"I'm the King," replied Freakshow, "One of the three Points of Control – one to spread despair, one to hold the balance, one to light the dark…"

He chuckled.

"Well, goodnight, lady, gentleman," grinned Freakshow, "I trust Lydia can show you the door."

The tattoo ghost appeared from the shadows, a small grin on her face.

"Goodbye," farewelled Freakshow.

He walked away.

Lydia braced her arm, revealing a large amount of tattoos, all of them of vicious creatures.

"Well…I hope you can run," gulped Norm.

* * *

Timmy continued to fight with Jorgen, neither gaining the upper hand.

"Come on, Jorgen, it's pointless to keep fighting," pleaded Timmy, "Come back to the light, we could use your help!"

"I WILL NOT HELP YOU FOR _ANYTHING!_" roared Jorgen, thrusting his wand at Timmy's head. With a loud smack, Timmy was floored.

Sitting up, Timmy shook his head.

"I guess saying that our side has all the cookies wouldn't help," he mused to himself.

Then he had an idea.

"Dani!" he called, "Remember that move I learnt? The big one?"

"Yeah," nodded Dani, "Why?"

"You might wanna get outta here," replied Timmy.

Dani grinned knowingly.

"Alright, guys, we're getting back to the Hovercraft!" she called.

"What?" demanded Molly, "But I'm not finished here…"

"Trust me, you do not wanna be here in a few seconds," assured Dani, "Come on!"

"Finally, we're leaving," grinned Ember.

She, Dani, Jimmy and Molly ran from the room.

"What move could you possibly have to harm me and my muscles?" demanded Jorgen.

"Oh, don't worry, it doesn't kill," grinned Timmy, "Though I can't say it won't wind you."

His body began to glow with white light, most of it concentrated to his hands. Timmy picked up a ruler from the desk and pointed it at Jorgen.

"See you around!"

* * *

Jazz and Norm bolted onto the White House lawn, the creatures not far behind. Ahead of them, Jimmy was preparing the Hovercraft as everyone else held off the Secret Service, F.A.I.R. and Army Rangers.

"Where's Timmy?" asked Jazz, as they reached the craft. The tank began firing rounds into Lydia's creatures to destroy them one by one.

"He's coming," replied Wanda, "He said to watch Freakshow's window."

"Any time would be nice!" snapped Rourke.

Then the window exploded.

A great, white light flooded from the building, shattering the window and even parts of the stone wall around it. Jumping from the window was the small form of Timmy Turner.

He landed flat on his face just in front of the Hovercraft.

"If he'd landed on his feet, I'd call out his ego," mused Gavin.

Climbing to his feet, and looking visibly weakened, Timmy got into the Hovercraft.

"That was the Light Stunner," he explained, "Jorgen's still back there, we need to get to Retroville."

"I'm on it," nodded Jimmy, slamming his fist on a button, "_To the lab!_"

There was a brief silence.

"Epic," sighed Bishop, sarcastically.

"Ah, you come up with something better," snapped Jimmy.

With a brilliant flash of light, the Hovercraft glowed blue and vanished, leaving its foes bewildered on the lawn.

"Well," mused a Ranger at last, "I probably shouldn't be saying this, but that was pretty freaking awesome."

* * *

Danny ran down the corridor in the direction of AJ. He was still crying a little bit from Sam's death – but the whole world was under threat, and he'd be damned if he'd let her die in vain.

He arrived at a stretch of hallway that had been charred and burned from its usual grey shade to an ashy black. Lying on the ground in it was a familiar person.

"AJ!"

He ran to the bleeding, semi-conscious figure on the ground, kneeling down.

"Not you too," he gasped.

"…I have…the code," said AJ, croakily, "Listen…"

Danny bowed his head and listened, fresh tears from his face.

"It's…6…7…2…"

Then AJ's head fell back.

Danny's head remained bowed for a half minute. He realised by this point that he seemed to have emptied his tear ducts. No longer was his predominate emotion sorrow.

Now it was rage.

Danny climbed to his feet, and began to walk towards the Project – towards, he suspected, Dan himself.

He had reverted to human form. His face was blank and expressionless, his breath calm, his body language almost relaxed.

But his eyes were not the typical blue of his human form, but a radiant, glowing green.

Dan had messed with his world, his friends, his heart. He may have thought he had one, but Dan had forgotten one important thing about his opponent.

He was Danny Fenton, and he was going to _win_.


	17. Chapter 16: The Final Countdown

The climax is here. I can't say anything else without spoiling something.

Review replies;

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Thanks for reading! I'm glad you liked this chapter more then the last one.

**OddAuthor:** Thanks for reviewing! Poor Timmy, I'm not really giving him a break through all this.

**unknown20troper:** Norm probably would care about the Earth, IMO - after all, that's where his lamp is! He wouldn't let you know, of course, because he's not that kind of guy. Anyway, thanks very much for reading!  
**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: The Final Countdown**

Danny walked through the corridors of the _Ark,_ making his way towards his greatest enemy. Opening the last door in the hallway, he entered the giant hold.

Project Oppenheimer was huge.

It was a giant, riveted, cylindrical device, with a large, control panel ringing the bottom. Around the top were a large variety of Tesla Coils and other such electrical equipment, encasing the metal surface in a blue, electric hue. In the middle of the panel was a large computer terminal, with a typical QWERTY keyboard fixed below it.

Danny walked up to the screen – only for Dan to appear in front of him, blocking his path.

"Well, Danny, have I destroyed you yet?" he asked, mockingly, "Isn't it funny how much I can do without ever hurting you physically?"

"Shut up," snapped Danny.

"Nah, I like my own voice," grinned Dan, "Anyway, we don't have long; Oppenheimer goes off in…ooh…five minutes now? You're out of time."

"You're wrong," whispered Danny, calmly.

"Come again?" asked Dan, holding a hand to his ear.

"_I said you're wrong!_"

A white ring erupted around Danny's chest at such force that it literally lit up the room. Splitting into two, the rings travelled in opposite directions – up and down his body.

His white shirt and blue jeans changed to a black jumpsuit. His hair went from raven black to ghostly white. His skin hue darkened slightly. His eyes, already green with rage before the transformation, became, if possible, even more brilliant and radiant then they had been before.

Danny Phantom stood, in his glowing, angered magnificence, before his opponent. He had said no words, his face saying everything.

Danny was really, really ticked off right now.

"Nice," nodded Dan, "But you can't defeat me, Daniel."

"Yes, I can," snarled Danny.

He tackled Dan, throwing the older ghost off his feet and to the ground. Charging his blows with ectoplasm, he punched Dan in the face four times – left, right, left, right.

Infuriated, Dan kneed the younger boy in the chest, winding him and causing him to fall off. Grabbing Danny by the throat, he threw his opponent across the room, causing him to crash onto the steel walls.

Danny quickly recovered, and fired an ectoplasmic beam at his foe, hitting him in the stomach. As Dan fell backwards, Danny sent another blow towards his chest.

Dan landed on the ground, but quickly got back up again.

"Good moves, Danny, good moves," he complimented, "But I'm better."

"_Two Minutes Remaining,_" a computerized voice echoed.

"Hear that?" grinned Dan, "That is the sound of your chances…ticking away."

Danny charged his arms with ectoplasm and threw himself at Dan again. He gave a swift uppercut, and was about to compliment this with a right hook when he was blocked by the older ghost's palm.

Grinning wickedly, Dan returned a punch into Danny's left eye. Knocking his foe backwards, he added with a kick to the abdomen, flooring Danny.

Not even pausing, Dan kneeled over Danny and began to punch his face repeatedly. As Danny tried to return with a kick, Dan stamped on his knee, causing the younger ghost to cry out in pain.

Dan got to his feet, and grinned. Mercilessly, he stamped on Danny's left hand. There was a loud cracking noise, and Danny screamed again.

"_One Minute Remaining._"

"It's over, Danny," said Dan, softly, "What honestly makes you think you can still win?"

"Dan," replied Danny, groaning, "You really don't have any human left in you, do you?"

"Nope," grinned Dan, "Gave it up, and let me tell you…I don't miss it."

"Yeah," nodded Danny, "But you gave up a feeling that can triumph over anything else…"

"Love, right?" laughed Dan, "Tell that one to your friends…oh, wait! I _killed_ them!"

"Not that," replied Danny, "The other one – determination."

His eye colour changed from ectoplasmic green to an icy blue.

Danny raised his hands and fired a beam of pure, hardened ice at his opponent. Unlike his normal ice-beam – a beam of subzero temperatures that froze anything it touched – this was simply a large shard of ice thrown at a very high speed towards his opponent. It shattered on impact with Dan's chest, knocking him off his feet.

Taking his chance, Danny jumped into the air and soared over his opponent to the control panel. Not even pausing to breathe upon landing, he punched in the code; 6-7-2.

The computerized voice spoke again.

"_Please Enter The Four Digit Code To Shut Down The Project."_

Danny paled.

"No…" he gasped.

"I told you couldn't win, Danny," ridiculed Dan, climbing to his feet behind him, "That thing is going to go off. Millions and millions will die – and I will laugh in my intangible form."

"_Twenty Seconds Remaining._"

Danny turned around, a look of combined fury, horror and despair on his face.

"You're not gonna go intangible, you're not gonna survive this," snapped Danny.

"Oh?" grinned Dan, "And why not?"

Danny's eye's narrowed, and he inhaled deeply.

"Because _I WON'T LET YOU!_"

A huge soundwave shot from Danny's mouth, slamming into the older ghost at high velocity. Dan was thrown back, an unearthly scream emerging from his lips. With a shudder and a roar, he smashed, headfirst, into a metal beam, fell to the ground and was still.

Danny collapsed, returning to his human form. His energy had been spent, and the computerised voice was finishing up the countdown.

"…_six…five…four …"_

Danny wasn't going to fool himself into thinking he'd won. Far from it, he knew that in mere seconds, the greatest disaster ever to strike the human race would occur. But for those few seconds, Danny felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

With Dan gone, the Cave, the Resistance and the Fairies still had a chance.

Pity he couldn't do more really.

"…_three…two…one._"

* * *

President Fulton slammed his fist on his podium, now visibly annoyed.

"Look, Ms. Waxelplax!" he snapped, "I do not claim that I am a saint, however your accusations are merely fear mongering!"

"Oh really?" mused Waxelplax, "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes," the President finished, "No matter what anyone else says or does, we will not be brought into a new dark age."

His expression calmed, and he turned to look directly at the news cameras.

"Everything is gonna be alright."

Then there was a flash.

This was followed by a loud rumbling.

For a split second, Fulton turned around and saw the skyline behind him crumble into pebbles in the wake of a massive shockwave.

Then the camera feed was lost.

* * *

Most of it was caught on camera in some form or another.

The Vice-President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Russia were shaking hands after signing their treaties in Portland – their looks of shock immortalised as the shockwave levelled the city.

A video-blogger in Vancouver filmed the shockwave hitting Vancouver Island – luckily for him, the island proved a natural shield for the city itself.

A news reporter in Tokyo was reporting about a traffic accident in the middle of the city, when the towers around him shattered and collapsed. The footage was cut off abruptly.

A broadcast of a celebrity appearance in Hollywood was interrupted by the destruction – the last sound heard was the sound of a well-known actress screaming.

A live feed of a holiday to Hong Kong, broadcast over the internet by a mobile phone, clearly showed several cars, three buses and a tram ripped to shreds like paper before the feed cut off.

Footage of Prime Minster Oni Tabot of Australia making an address at the Sydney Opera House was 'terminated prematurely'. Before the screen turned to static, the sight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge twisting into scrap iron in seconds was beamed by satellite into homes.

Satellites soon revealed the full extent of the damage. What had once been land was now so badly destroyed that had simply sunk – replaced by ocean. Japan had been cut by half. The Pacific Islands and Atolls no longer existed. All Pacific coastlines, from Vladivostok in Russia to Sydney in Australia, and from Juneau in Alaska to Puerto Montt in Chile, all of it had been totally wiped off the face of the Earth.

* * *

Freakshow's helicopter landed at the Pentagon, the man himself surprised to find several high-ranking officers of the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine waiting for him.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, stepping from the helicopter.

"Mister Showsenhower," replied the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "We have just received word of a massive failure of Project Oppenheimer. Most of the West Coast had been destroyed, and the President is dead."

Freakshow seemed to be taken aback.

"B-but the Project was perfect!" he stammered.

"We believe it was sabotaged by the fairies," interjected the Chief of the Army, "The President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State – they're all dead."

"Then who's in charge?" demanded Freakshow.

There was a pause.

"That would be you, Mr. President," said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, at last.

Freakshow stood, agape, for a few seconds.

Then he grinned.

* * *

Hands up everyone who expected a happy ending!

One chapter to go, which I'll write tommorrow or the day after.


	18. Chapter 17: A New Dark Age

The final chapter is here! w00t!

Review replies;

**unknown20troper:** I'm glad you liked it! I admit I used the Ultimate Enemy as inspiration for that one.

**OddAuthor:** We can't have everything, can we? Thanks for reading!

**Jolius Darkmaster:** Oh no! I killed your brain, aaaah! Thanks for reviewing!  
**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: A New Dark Age**

It was so quiet in Jimmy Neutron's lab that you could have heard a pin drop.

Jimmy and Colonel Atkinson were on the computers, trying to access what had happened. They had seen the news footage of Fulton, and that of Francis, who had taken a video camera. Both had not presented good tidings.

At last, Jimmy and Atkinson turned away from the computers. Both seemed to be in shock.

"We've accessed the situation," explained Atkinson, "We have concluded that there has been a massive explosive device detonated, and that Dimmsdale has been annihilated."

"That means…oh my god, Francis, Waxelplax – heck! – the President, they're all dead!" exclaimed Chester.

"It gets worse," said Jimmy, grimly, "It was Project Oppenheimer. The epicentre of the blast was _Ark._"

There was a long silence.

"Oh my god," breathed Rourke, at last.

"Morrissey," gasped Bishop.

Gavin took his hat off and held it to his chest.

"He's not the only one," added Timmy, looking horrified, "Vicky, AJ, Sam and…"

"Surely Danny could have phased them through it with his ghost powers, right?" asked Dani, looking hopeful.

"His ectoplasmic signature vanished when the _Ark_ exploded," sighed Jimmy, "I'm, sorry. They're all gone."

"…and so is most of the Pacific Coastlines," added Atkinson, gloomily.

There was another long silence.

Finally, Dani let out a sniffle.

"H-he can't be gone!" she exclaimed, "He's m-my cousin! He's already h-half-ghost, he's g-gotta be in the G-G-Ghost Zone!"

"That isn't the case."

All eyes turned. Vlad Masters stood in the lab, arms crossed.

"What're you doing here?" demanded Tucker.

He was ignored by Vlad.

"There are many factors that cause the creation of a ghost," explained Vlad, "They can be passions, obsessions, belief that their life's work isn't finished or even intervention by a higher power…"

Tootie looked away.

"…but for the majority of humans, their lives are complete when they die. They go…onwards, over the edge of the Ghost Zone," continued Vlad, "If that happens, nobody can bring them back in any form. That is what has happened to Sergeant Morrissey, to Mr. Ibrehim, to Victoria and Samantha…and to Daniel."

He bowed his head.

"He is gone."

Dani let out a sob, and fell to the ground, bawling. Bishop and Gavin lowered their heads in respect of their comrade, whilst Tucker and Jazz simply looked lost and in shock.

Incensed, Rourke marched up to Vlad and grabbed him by the collar.

"You have some nerve, coming in here and telling us that!" he snapped.

Timmy was soon backing the Marine up, looking equally infuriated.

"What the heck did you need to say that for, huh?" he demanded, "How did you even get in here…"

"Listen!" shouted Vlad, "You are going to need by help to find the Balance, so I'd suggest you unhand me right now!"

"Yeah, of course you are!" shot Molly, "And I'm…"

"Actually, he is correct," Atkinson interrupted, "He knows who the Balance is, and he's going to lead us to them."

There was a short pause, before Rourke threw Vlad to the ground.

"So, you're going to help us?" he grinned, "Fantastic."

* * *

Washington DC was quiet.

There was some activity, here and there, mind you. Contractors were already on scene at the White House, fixing the damaged structure. Thankfully, most of the damage was internal, and the external appearance was easily maintained.

Outside, soldiers had taken over police duties at checkpoints across the city. Martial Law had been instated in most major cities within six hours of the attack, and most people weren't interested in going outside anyway – they were glued to their televisions and computers, watching the unfolding global situation in shock.

The world's leaders had sent their reacts to their subjects.

The Acting Prime Minister of Japan had appeared in Kyoto, revealing the deaths of the Japanese Emperor and former Prime Minister. He had stated that for the future of the country, co-operation with the United States Government was essential.

At the same time, the Acting-Prime Minister of Australia reported from Canberra, giving a similar response to Japan's.

In London, the House of Commons had made a statement, ordering full mobilization of the British Army, and calling for an explanation of what went wrong with Project Oppenheimer. Similar calls, although much harsher, emerged from Moscow and Beijing.

At last, the US Government spoke from the U.S. Capitol to the news networks.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had given an update on confirmed destroyed cities before handing over to Freakshow.

"My fellow Americans," began Freakshow, "I am speaking to you at a time of great loss, of destruction of a truly _magnificent_ magnitude, that has struck our planet, our very way of life. I am about to tell you the truth behind this horrible incident."

Whispering broke out for a few seconds in the assembled journalists, before Freakshow raised a hand to silence them.

"The fairies have struck again," concluded Freakshow, "They sabotaged Project Oppenheimer in a despicable attempt to assassinate our President. They have struck once again, and this time action – _international _action – must be taken!"

"At this very moment, at Cape Canaveral, a giant military satellite is being launched into space. It is called Cyclops, and it will allow us to observe any and all actions made by subversive elements, and destroy them immediately. It is the most advanced space-borne construct ever devised…"

Freakshow grinned.

"So I say to you, Timmy Turner – What can you do now? I'm President, my friend…things are going to change around here."

* * *

Timmy sat on the curb outside Jimmy's house, and sighed heavily. The plans Sabre Team had brought back about Cyclops had been worse then they had anticipated.

Cyclops was heavily protected by SAM missiles (as if anything could get up there in the first place!), three ICBMs, a magi-protection shield (thank you for nothing, Jorgen) and contained the multiverse drive the government had created. If they found Retroville, it was merely a matter of blasting them into oblivion.

Jimmy had assured everyone that Retroville was just one of billions and billions of universes, and there was a less then one percent chance of Retroville being found first. Eventually, however, the government would have to get lucky.

He looked at the stars above him. For some undisclosed reason, Retroville did not have a high light-pollution level, making it easy to see the cosmos above. It was vast, and expansive. No wonder Danny been fascinated by them.

And now he was gone.

"Timmy?"

Timmy looked behind him. Cosmo, Wanda and Poof had left the lab, coming to give him some company. Poof was the one who had spoken.

The four stood in silence for a bit.

"Have…have we lost, Timmy?" asked Cosmo, timidly.

Timmy looked at the moon above. He remembered what Clockwork had said.

"_Everything is as it should be…_" he said to himself.

"What does that mean?" enquired Cosmo, confused.

"It's not over yet, guys," replied Timmy.

He pulled Cosmo, Wanda and Poof into a hug, which seemed to last an age but was really just a few seconds. Then a quiet, somewhat croaky voice was heard.

"Can I join?" asked Dani, walking up. Her eyes were still red.

"There's room," nodded Timmy.

Nodding, Dani joined in the hug.

None of them knew what tomorrow would bring – but they did know they would face it together.

* * *

From the upstairs window, in Jimmy's room, Jazz and Norm watched over the moment.

"Well, they're reacting pretty well to being doomed," Norm deadpanned.

"This is not the end," nodded Jazz, "It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

"Huh?"

"Winston Churchill," elaborated Jazz.

"Meh, I prefer that age-old proverb," mused Norm.

"Which one?" asked Jazz.

"You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."

Jazz rolled her eyes.

"You're taking this pretty well," considered Norm, "Given he was your brother and all."

Jazz sighed.

"You do realise what I was doing for three hours in the bathroom?" she asked.

"Yep," nodded Norm.

"Aren't you gonna say something about it then?"

Norm chuckled.

"I don't do the dead baby stuff," he affirmed, "Not _much_, anyway."

There was a short silence.

"So, you do you think the Balance is?" asked Jazz.

"Meh, somebody," shrugged Norm, "I just hope he's not too grating…"

* * *

It was a place far removed from Retroville, but somewhere that managed to be just that little bit similar as well.

The Balance, as it were, was a normal resident of this odd place, going about his morning routine. He was oblivious to the actions of other worlds, of the grand struggle between Light and Dark that he was about to be involved in.

The Balance was just leaving his house, heading for his place of employment, when he discovered an envelope addressed to him on his doormat. Curious, he opened it, and read the message inside.

_My Friend,_

_You are about to play a part in a struggle far beyond your own world. In the coming months, you may receive offers from a man named 'Freakshow' – for the sake of the entire multiverse, you must reject him every time he asks for your assistance or employment._

_I sincerely hope that you can do this – eventually, you shall meet a child named Timmy Turner. He will need your help – when he comes, you must assist him._

_Regards,_

_Clockwork._

The Balance stared at the message for a short while, before turning to his pet snail.

"Uh, Gary, do we know a Clockwork?"

**TO BE CONTINUED.**

**

* * *

**Well, if I didn't alienate anyone with Jimmy, I certainly have now. :\

And that's the end of Middle Grounds. I would like to give my thanks to **my brother**, who invented Sabre Team, and my reviewers.

Special thanks go to **unknown20troper** and **OddAuthor**, who have been great morale support in writing this story. I would also like to thank everyone who has read this story so far - you're all awesome too, I'm sure. :D

Well, that's it for now. I'll be working on other things for a few days, but I shall see you in the next installment,_ The Beginning._ Have a good day!


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